Shakuhachi Ensemble

(click picture to enlarge)

Yesterday afternoon we went with brother-in-law Zen to hear an ensemble called Yugao. The instrumentation for the group consists of cello, piano, tabla (Indian drums), and shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute). It's not a combination of sounds I would have expected to find. (And we wonder how the group found each other in the  first place.) But it works. I mean, it really works. The sound was full and rich and totally involving.

The setting was interesting. Down some cramped stairs off a main street into a little, slightly run-down bar/restaurant. (There must be hundreds of these in Kyoto and any Japanese city.) There was seating for perhaps twenty people.
The atmosphere was warm, relaxed, and comfortable even though the setting was rather cramped. Note the picture. That's about how far away we were from the stage. And we were in the middle of the room (not the front row)!

The the group totally carried us all away. Part of  their repertoire borrows heavily from traditional Japanese flute music -- but in an interesting jazz-flavored style. You can get a taste of that by going to this page and clicking on any of the little "play" triangle-in-a-circle images in the left-hand list. (Not the list on the right that shows pieces by other popular groups.)

The other half of the program consisted of more western and/or modern pieces. There were two jazz-inspired tributes to Bach (The famous unaccompanied cello piece made famous in recent years by Yo-yo Ma as well as the familiar "Air on a G String".) These were contrasted by a Chick Corea piece called "Spain" and a free-wheeling treatment of "Summertime" from Porgy and Bess. So the ground kept shifting and we remained entranced for the full two hours.

Afterwards I talked to the band leader for a few minutes in Japanese. "Where are you from?" he wondered. "The Seattle area," I responded. (This usually results in the prompt and delighted response, "Oh yes. Ichiro!") "Do you know about Seattle?" I asked. "Oh, yes," he responded enthusiastically, "Jimi Hendrix! Kurt Cobain!" That made my day.