International Shakuhachi Society (komuso.com) gets a kick in the hakama

From madoherty on Shakuhachi Forum (The BBQ): Word on the street is that the International Shakuhachi Society (ISS) purchased a new scanner and pdf-maker with membership dues from last year and is in the process of placing all kinds of valuables online through the website that you know well:
www.komuso.com

If you want to support this work further, maybe consider joining (I am not certain if the material will only be available by members or not). The site has been a valuable resource for me over the years. I consider my membership to be a given due to the sites' value in my education and as a reference source. There is a sneak peak on the ISS's Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/issfb?ref=ts

Ron Nelson (I assume) says: "Just spent last year's ISS membership revenue to buy a PDF scanner / document feeder to digitize the hundreds of pages of xeroxed scores, books, letters, and pamphlets I've been keeping in a giant filing cabinet. I intend to eventually share out anything I'm comfortable is not copyrighted. The ISS library should not be a hoarde but a resource"

Thanks Michael!

Couldn't happen at a better time! Thanks Ron!

For the birds Part 2: A shakuhachi lesson with Eric Dolphy

image © 2007 chris moran

"... I used to play, and the birds always used to whistle with me. I would stop what I was working on and play with the birds... Birds have notes in between our notes - you try to imitate something they do ..."

— Eric Dolphy

For the birds: a shakuhachi lesson with Don Van Vleit

LISTEN TO THE BIRDS.



That's where all the music comes from. 



Birds know everything about how it should sound and where that sound should come from.



And watch hummingbirds. They fly really fast, but a lot of times they aren't going

anywhere.



— Captain Beefheart

Maybe an audio clip of Swanee River WON'T help you sell a shakuhachi

This Ryozan 1.8 flute, which sounds quite capable with "so-so" looks has been on Mejiro's used website for a year or more; price reduced from about 130,000-Yen to below 90,000-Yen, etc. etc. They just can't seem to move it.

The sound clip is Stephen Foster's black-face minstrel song Old Folks at Home (better known as 'Swanee River').

http://www.mejiro-japan.com/system/detail_e.php?a_id=1758

Maybe this song, advertised as an "Ethiopian Melody" when it was published in 1851, is just not the image best associated with a mystical zen Kinko shakuhachi?

~1st verse~
Way down upon de Swanee ribber (river)
Far, far away,
Dere's wha my heart is turning ebber,
Dere's wha de old folks stay.

All up and down de whole creation
Sadly I roam,
Still longing for de old plantation
And for de old folks at home.

~Chorus~
All de world am sad and dreary,
Ebry where I roam,
Oh! darkies how my heart grows weary,
Far from de old folks at home.

(Although this song may sometimes be performed with "modern" lyrics that some claim to be more sensitive racially, the song's original lyrics, included here, had been adopted officially as the lyrics of Florida's state song. — http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Folks_at_Home)

Phil Nyokai James Benefit/Celebration Aug. 28

Portland, ME Benefit/Celebration concert :: Aug 28th :: 8pm

Our Portland, Maine friends are pulling together an upcoming concert.
Hope to see you there!

Save the date! August 28th 8PM

Benefit Concert/Celebration
for the Phil James Family Emergency Fund

Saturday, August 28, 8pm
Trinity Episcopal Church
580 Forest Ave, Portland

Admission by donation

With:
Phil Nyokai James – shakuhachi and piano
Carl Dimow – flute
Nathan Kolosko – classical guitar
Danielle Langord – celtic harp
Nicole Rabata – celtic flute
Mark Tipton – jazz trumpet
and
Marita Kennedy-Castro – dance

For more information: Carl Dimow – 207-615-1550 - cdimow@earthlink.net

Phil Nyokai James is a recognized master of the Japanese flute, the shakuhachi, and also a wonderful pianist and composer. While driving from the Grand Canyon in Arizona this past January, Phil had a major stroke. Paralyzed, he lost control of the car. Sitting in the passenger seat next to him was his wife, Lara, seven months pregnant. In an incredible rush of adrenaline, Lara gained control of the car and prevented the family from heading off the icy road into the mountains. Far from any town and without phone reception, Lara pulled Phil from the driver’s seat and she drove until she saw headlights - and connected Phil with medical care.

Phil was initially very far gone and in acute rehab for weeks. He had minimal speech and no ability to read or write. His recovery has been slow, but steady. He and Lara were able to return to their home in Portland at the end of February, and Lara gave birth to a healthy baby boy, Julian, in early April.

At this point in time, Phil has regained a lot of physical control but still has aphasia and is working to regain his full speech capacity. Amazingly, and thanks to daily encouragement from Lara, he began playing shakuhachi within a week of the stroke. His musician friends have been stunned with how little the stroke affected his musical skills. Nevertheless, he is still recovering and has not been ready to return to a work life of teaching and performing. The family is struggling financially.

This concert is to raise money for Phil, Lara and Julian, but it’s also a celebration. This will be Phil’s first public performance since the stroke. He’ll be joined by a number of luminaries from various ends of the Portland music scene: Nicole Rabata and Danielle Langord playing celtic music; Carl Dimow and Nathan Kolosko playing Brazilian music; the wonderful jazz trumpet playing of Mark Tipton; and the exciting dancing of Marita Kennedy-Castro. The musicians will be working in a variety of combinations and Phil will appear as a soloist and with a variety of ensembles. This promises to be a unique, special and entertaining evening.

Can't attend in Person? Purchase an empty Zen Seat™ for the concert, ONLY $10 each! Order as many as you like!

"They're Zen! They're Empty! They're Zen Seats™ !!!"

TO ORDER YOUR Zen Seats™ for the Aug. 28 Phil Nyokai James Benefit/Celebration GO TO:

http://homegrown-hope.blogspot.com/ — Phil James Family Emergency Fund

The Doubting of the Komuso

A little known work of Caravaggio.

Shakuhachi Seance

Are the shakuhachi of the past better than the shakuhachi of the present?

How to succeed ...

Shiro playing "Poorman's Shiro"

I made this composite in honor of a 1.9 shakuhachi made by Ken LaCosse of Mujitsu Shakuhachi in San Francisco. James Nyman had it at the time. I dubbed it the poorman's Shiro, after the master Kinko shakuhachi maker Yamaguchi Shiro (pictured). If it ever shows up for sale again, I'll be first in line.

Green shakuhachi, red dragonfly, pink shirt

Does anyone have information on this photo? Who, what, when, where?

"Buddy can you spare a shakuhachi?"

Part II in a continuing series of articles about shakuhachi and the enduring economic crisis

A few weeks ago I wrote an article about forward looking shakuhachi makers and dealers who were offering time payments on shakuhachi: Shakuhachi Prices: "Do you take unemployment checks?"

In the article I made special mention of the late Tom Deaver and his efforts to make Bei Shu shakuhachi available to customers the world over through time payments. Sadly with Tom now gone it is safe to say that no individual maker has a written policy in English on this practice if they do offer it.

In the past couple of days I noticed that Mejiro is offering time payments on shakuhachi for overseas customers. They have had an in-store policy for lay-away sales, but have never extended it to online overseas customers. Their no returns policy for their time payment plan might be reason for caution, but it does show some adaptation to the times in which we live.

As much of a pain in the ass it is to do bookkeeping on time-payments, and further complicating a maker's or dealer's life, having written and advertised payment plan policies only seems like good business sense for people who want to increase shakuhachi sales and cash flow.

It seems to be a preferable alternative to sitting on a lot of expensive inventory and hoping things wiil just "turn around."

Another thing I've noticed on Mejiro's site is that their recent additions of used shakuhachi seem to me starting at a prices about 10-percent lower than previously instruments of about the same grade. Just an observation, there, but something to ponder.

I don't think Darwin's theory ever actually said "only the strongest survive" but it most certainly explained that the most adaptable survive — and, in fact, thrive.

Shakuhachi Workshop with Peter Hill, July 25

Shakuhachi Workshop with Peter Hill
2:00 pm, Sunday, July 25
Media Center/Communication Bldg., UCSD

Peter Hill will be in San Diego the week of July 25 to 31 giving shakuhachi lessons and holding a workshop on the 25th.

Lessons will also be available during the week following the workshop.

Here's Peter's description of the workshop:

Most workshops and lessons on shakuhachi focus on learning traditional or modern pieces. This workshop will spend time on how to make every note one plays sound as good as possible, thus making the pieces sound as good as possible.

We will focus on three elements that are key to playing shakuhachi well:

1. How to make a good sound: embouchure and breath control.

2. How to make the traditional pieces sound authentic:what are the various aspects of the Japanese musical aesthetic; how does one produce them with the shakuhachi.

3. How to make the flute sing, that is how to play the shakuhachi musically.

--

This is a workshop that will be of value to all students, from beginner to advanced.

Lessons are $50. The workshop is $25.

For details and to schedule a lesson, contact:
Bruce Jones
bjones@ucsd.edu
619-823-8281

Rest In Peace, Tom Deaver

"A major figure in the transmission of shakuhachi ... One of my favorite shakuhachi Tomism's, 'Do what you think is right.' He's done his work well. Thanks Tom." — Ken LaCosse, Mujitsu Shakuhachi, San Francisco

Dressed layer
upon layer,
I wear a new bamboo hat
and go home.
— Jowa, 1785

Messages on the passing of Tom Deaver on Shakuhachi Forum

Yamaguchi Goro & Aoki Reibo II - Shika no Tone -one reel- shorter version

Waiting for Kiku, July 9

It seems like only Yesterday ...

Waiting for Kiku Day, July 7

http://shakuhachiforum.com/viewtopic.php?pid=32894

Shakuhachi Watch, June 30: Modern Komuso 2.0 Hocciku and a great 2.8 (UPDATED)

No self-respecting komuso should be without one: A 2.0 (C) shakuhachi-in-the-raw:

NICE 2.O HOCCHIKU SHAKUHACHI BAMBOO FLUTE PERRY YUNG

If you are interested in learning Nezasa Ha (Bamboo Grass sect) music with that penetrating, pulsing komi-buki breath, a 2.0 is a must and a well-tuned, raw jinashi (hocciku) like this one shouldn't be missed. Very hard to find, particularly one made by an experienced maker at an affordable price. This is such a one. Discounted from $600 to $450.

And then this Absolute No-Brainer from Perry if you are looking for a 2.8 and don't have 3-grand to spend on one:

2.8 nobekan shakuhachi with IVORY utaguchi inlay

Unbelievably good price.

Mujitsu's & Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ a.k.a. Shakuhachi Forum GRAND RE-OPENING!

GO! shakuhachiforum.com

Shakuhachi Beat going to Pittsburgh; back on the 29th

New Age Nazi

Mujitsu's & Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ a.k.a. Shakuhachi Forum on Hiatus: DAY 10

BBQ Dancing