Ah wonderful...
so far we have related shak music to the playing of Lord Krishna, Sufi
Islamic music (which I appreciate as a Sufi student who lived in West Africa
for sometime), as well as Chan/Zen of course...
lest we forget our own traditions:
“…Pan, thinking he had caught nymph body, held only river reeds: sighed and
so air across reeds made slight sound like moaning, taken by sweet new tone,
the god said, ‘Now you’ll speak to me forever’….”
my understanding is that the reed/bamboo flutes started (as with many
things) in East Africa, spread to Mesopotamia, the Indus river Valley and
India, to China and Japan, Southeast Asia and Indonesia, then to .... we're
talking a widespread cultural phenomena here... very interesting... is
anyone familiar with the Sabi of Egypt/Ethiopia?
For me the shakuhachi and zen are a way to reach back into the timeless
past, the "primordial buddha", to the "wisdom beyond wisdom", the "original
face before I was born".... the Japanese have certainly refined this
particular artform (as with most things they bring their incredible artistic
abilities to) to bring the form to the original "emptiness" or "suchness"...
"O Shariputra, form does not differ from emptiness; emptiness does not
differ from form. That which is form is emptiness; that which is emptiness
form."
One piece I especially admire is "kyorei" as played by Yoshio Kurahashi on
the CD "Kyoto Spirit"... it is so completely unadorned and straightforward.
My understanding is that "Kyorei" is one of the oldest Shak pieces. With
this artist, while I love his playing of the notes, I really appreciate
hearing the wind in the bamboo during the piece, and all the little trills
and whistles are like crackling in the glaze of a teacup... wonderful... so
many artists seem to play notes quite well but with this artist I really
hear the wind in the bamboo... wonderful, wonderful!
It reminds me of the latest flute that just came to me. This is a long flute
in G (Ni Shaku Ha Sun 2.8') and is not a root end, just a plain long flute.
It is a very heavy flute, when someone cut the bamboo originally in Japan,
the etched the character for "stong" or "solid" in the bamboo. My local
Shakuhachi guy (David Mason) just cut the utagachi and cleaned it out a
bit, didn't even need putty (and no laquer!) and it is fairly easy to
play... plays higher octaves easily for some players (not me yet!) While not
as easy to play as my "Old Crow" (which I also love!!) that I got from Monty
Levenson, and not so pure in sound... I like to play this "Strong" flute in
the morning to warm up for Zazen... it is VERY breathy and one hears lots of
bamboo (probably due to my amateurish playing technique as much as the
nature of the bamboo!) as well as being very serious sombre and deep in
tone... a kind of "Shibui" quality...
Brett "Bud" Breitwieser (bud@rajah.com)
zen etc. http://rajah.com
Santa Cruz, California
> -----Original Message-----
> From: richard bohn [mailto:richard_bohn@msn.com]
> Sent: Saturday, June 09, 2001 8:30 AM
> To: Bud; millerbk@infi.net
> Cc: shakuhachi@weber.ucsd.edu
> Subject: Re: Shak: A Prana Connection?
>
>
> I love these animal sounds ... sometimes when I'm out running with my dog
> Tess .. I stop when I hear a beautiful bird calling ... Tess comes up and
> sits beside me .. we listen .. the bird calls out .. I answer
> with a feeble
> imitative whistle ... the bird responds .. and Tess tilts her head towards
> me ... " yes .. I tell her .. see Tess .. ? All the animals in the forest
> love me ... see how lucky you are to be my doggie ..? "
>
> I think of the solo flute sections of Sufi/Arabic music is it the
> ' taksim '
> .. ? The longing for union with the Beloved comes through the hollow
> tube and drops like nectar into the heart.
>
>
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