Shakuhachi Music: A Bell Ringing in the Empty Sky

Yamaguchi, Goro

album cover

The Calming Breath

Used for centuries in China and then Japan, the shakuhachi flute is considered by some to be a path to enlightenment. To the Zen students of the Fuke sect, it is also a vital part of training—suizen, or blowing meditation, is aimed at not just the creation of beautiful tones but the development of deep breath control. A master flutist can make the air dance, or "create a life in one long breath."

On the two extended pieces that make up this solo disc, the gifted Goro Yamaguchi (1933–1999) pretty much exhausts what the fivehole bamboo shakuhachi, which is played vertically like a recorder, can do. His performances have moments of astounding technique, but more often a deep sense of clarity and composure—qualities that make this music ideal for meditation. Early in the first piece, "Depicting the Cranes in Their Nest," Yamaguchi executes carefully controlled swoops and pitch-bends that evoke a young bird's anxious first flights, and the accompanying parental trepidation. In the second piece, sweeping long tones depend upon Yamaguchi's poised and steady airstream—at times it's possible to almost feel the air shooting across the tone holes, and sense how, just using breath, he's gently shading the music. (Both pieces also contain more pronounced inflections, moments where quick finger work signals abrupt changes of emotional temperature.)

Though the long, elaborate lines can seem extemporaneous, shakuhachi music does have a structure, with distinct melodic passages that unfold in sequence. The title selection was written by a Zen priest named Kyochiku after a dream about enlightenment; it is laced with religious meanings, and is considered one of the most technically demanding tunes in the repertoire. According to the liner notes, which offer a concise history of shakuhachi music, it is also the most frequently performed. Go deeply into the mood of calming beauty and contented introspection Yamaguchi sustains for fifteen (!) minutes, and you may appreciate why.

Genre: World, Japan
Released: 2007, Nonesuch Explorer
Key Tracks: "Depicting the Cranes in Their Nest," "A Bell Ringing in the Empty Sky"
Next Stop: Reiko Kimura and Tadashi Tajima: Music for Koto
Book Pages: 879–880

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