Search - Japanese Shakuhachi Music :: Japanese Masterpieces for the Shakuhachi

Good performances, old recordings, low fidelity

Algernon D'Ammassa | Los Angeles, CA United States | 10/09/2001

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This is an old Lyrichord album of Zen honkyoku, religious pieces for the traditional bamboo flute in the style of the old itinerant Zen monks and, later, of the samurai. (The breathing involved in sustaining the sound of the shakuhachi is also useful in martial arts, and some warriors took up the instrument following their martial training. In fact, a sturdy shakuhachi makes a good bludgeon, and it was sometimes used as such - which is astonishing when you consider how expensive these instruments are now!)Many of these pieces have been recorded on newer, digital or at least higher-quality analog recordings and the audiophile might prefer to seek those out. A virtue of the quality performances on this disc is that the musicians are an older generation of shakuhachi masters, and they give you a good feel for an older style. (This is nothing against contemporary players, including westerners who have mastered the instrument and incorporated it into modern music.)"

Not a master

Donna J. D. Duggan | Seattle, WA USA | 05/08/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I'm certainly not a master of the genre, and was unfamiliar with the instrument, but I really enjoyed the CD. I picked it up at a library sale, and it was as calming and unusual a piece as I had hoped it to be. The music is haunting and lyrical."