Aid Japan for Children

On Novermber 24th, 2011, I performed at a benefit concert for tsunami relief in St. Ann’s Church in Dublin. I played ‘Tamuke’ as a solo and also in the premiere of ‘Suite for Japan’ by composer and performer Martin Tourish, a piece involving Japanese and Irish instruments with voices. The charity supports children who are recovering from the trauma of the March 11 tsunami. Donations to the charity can be made at the following site: http://aidjapanforchildren.blogspot.com/p/celtic-japan-tsunami-relief-charity.html

European Shakuhachi Society Summer School 2011

The European Shakuhachi Society Summer School 2011 took place in SOAS, London from July 28-31. For the first time in Europe, Min’yo or Japanese folk song was taught by Endo Yoshihiro. He was joined in workshops and in performance by David Hughes, Yoshie Asano-Campbell and Silvia Woolridge.

We were also fortunate to have Hazuki Demachi (currently based in Belfast) teaching enka and Chikumesha honkyoku with Michael Soumei Coxall. Chikuza (Kodama Hiroyuki) lead workshops in jinashi shakuhachi making assisted by José Vargas and myself.

Other guest performers and teachers included Daniel Lifermann, Horacio Curti, Véronique Piron and Kiku Day. The koto and shamisen classes were led by Masako Townsend and Keiko Kitamura.

The summer school also had a large group of beginners who excelled in the final participants’ performance.

Prague Shakuhachi Festival 2010

I returned to the Prague Shakuhachi Festival after a break of a few years. It was great to see a much expanded programme and many familiar faces. I was honoured to play in a performance of Vlatislav Matousek’s ‘Koan’ with Jean-Francois Lagrost and Ensemble 108 Hertz.

I was also fortunate to visit the UNESCO town of Český Krumlov.

I visited the Moravian town of Polička where the composer Bohuslav Martinů was born. Beyond the old town walls is the tower where he was born and raised.

Traditional Japanese Music Concert

On the 15th October 2010, I performed with Masahiro Niitsuma (biwa), Hazuki Demachi (shakuhachi) and Thomas Charles Marshall (biwa) at St. Ann’s Church in Dublin. The event was hosted by the Japanese Business Association and sponsored by the Ireland Japan Association in cooperation with the Embassy of Japan in Ireland.

The pieces performed included ‘Shika no tone’, ‘Sanya Sugagaki’, ‘Hi fu mi hachigaechi’ and ‘Reihou’.

End of concert with Ambassador Urabe and representatives from the Japanese Business Association and IJA.

Cool Earth Fair

Junshi Murakami and I performed at the Cool Earth Fair at the Festival of World Cultures 2010 in Dun Laoghaire. The event was run by the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council’s Environment, Culture and Community Department.

Japanese Gardens

The Japanese Gardens at the Irish National Stud is celebrating 100 years in 2010. Junshi Murakami and I were invited to play at the tree-planting ceremony by the Ireland Japan Association.

Experience Japan

Ireland held its’ first “Experience Japan Day” at Farmleigh House in Dublin. It was organised by UCD, OPW and a group of dedicated volunteers. Junshi Murakami (Irish harp) and I played a number of Japanese folk tunes to fit in with this cherry blossom festival or hanami.

Festival of World Cultures 2009

The ‘Festival of World Cultures’ 2009 took place in Dun Laoghaire, County Dublin on August 29 and 30. I was involved in three events. The first was the ‘Mela’ in the Peoples’ Park. It involved a group of musicians from various Asian cultures jamming in a tent. The other musicians included The Bahh Band, a group from Nepal (Hiralal and Ramji Gaine) and various Indian instruments such as mridangam (Koushik Chandrashekar) and sitar (Dara O’Brien). We had no rehearsal but managed to entertain.

The second event was the launch of a collection of haiku by the Irish poet Gabriel Rosenstock. I played a short collection of Irish and Japanese melodies on shakuhachi with Junshi Murakami on Irish harp. Junshi and I were busy again at the Cool Earth Eco Fair in which we played a longer set in the County Hall.

At this event, I was fortunate to met Utsav Lal, the 17-year old “Raga Pianist”. I was invited to join him along with Koushik, Dave Sheridan on Irish flute and Rohan Kapadia on tabla in a performance. It took place in the National Concert Hall, Dublin on September 8. We decided to follow the example of Ravi Shankar and Hozan Yamamoto’s collaboration in a version of ‘Rokudan’.

2009 Leiden Shakuhachi Summer School

The 2009 European Shakuhachi Summer School was held in Leiden, Holland from July 22-26. It was organised by the Dutch Shakuhachi Society, Kaito under the leadership of Kees Kort. Leiden is celebrating 400 years of trade relations with Japan with a year-long festival of events including the Shakuhachi Summer School. The performers included Yoshi Kurahashi, Gunnar Linder, Steve Cohn, Vlatislav Matousek, Peter Hill, Tilo Burdock and Kees Kort. I spent a couple of days before the event in crowded Amsterdam and found Lieden a beautiful and peaceful location for a summer school.

The workshops I attended include ‘Takiotoshi no Kyoku’ taught by Gunnar Linder, Yoshio Kurahashi’s interesting interpretation of ‘Mukaiji‘ and Tilo Burdock teaching ‘Soe’ by his teacher Nishimura Koku.

A unique focus of the summer school was improvisation. This was lead by Steve Cohn. His workshops helped everyone listen and interact to the playing of others with a new perspective. Vlastislav Matousek’s compositions also contain an element of improvisation. I was honoured to perform with Vlasislav Matousek and his three daughters in a performance of his composition ‘Roma Tibi‘.

The evening concerts included performances by the teachers of the pieces taught in the workshops. There were also very entertaining performances by some leading Dutch improvisers with Steve Cohn. The summer school also included a number of talks and performances at the Ethnological Museum in Leiden which has an impressive collection of Japanese art and antiquities. The final concert contained a performance by the superb Belgian taiko group ‘Tatake’.

National Theatre, London

I recently played in a concert at the National Theatre, London with the group ‘Haru Ichiban.’ The programme consisted of some sankyoku, arrangements of Japanese folk tunes and some shinkyoku such as ‘Haru no Umi’ by Miyagi Michiyo. The group is led by the koto and shamisen player, Rie Yanagawa. The maiko dancer Akiko Kobayashi was the star of the performance.