Search - Yamato Ensemble :: Art of Japanese Koto, Shakuhachi and Shamisen

Music that mesmerizes

Caleb Poh | Republic of Singapore | 11/06/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I got this CD 4 years ago in a music shop in Istanbul,Turkey.Its my first CD on Japanese chamber music. What captures me is that the CD features music from some of the main musical instruments from Japanese chamber music, namely the shamisen, shakuhachi and the koto, which is quite a good deal. To be truthful, all these instruments actually originated in China,but got to Japan during the Tang Dynasty. One of them, the Shakuhachi (known as 'Chi Ba' in Chinese), is now a lost art in China, and is frequently thought of as being the same as the Chinese bamboo flute. My favourite track is track #4, entitled Hoshun(meaning Spring Time). The music is just hauntingly beautiful.The music of the shakuhachi and the koto do not compete for dominance but just complement and blend with each other so well. The music is simply mesmerizing. I would also like to mention track #2: Tsuru no Sugomori, which means Tenderness of Cranes, a solo performance by the Shakuhachi. The musician actually uses the the technique of koro-koro(double trill) to imitate the crane's call, which is rather fascinating. Although there are only six tracks in this CD, it certainly is a good introduction for music fans who are interested in Japanese chamber music."