Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

There was a public O-hanami (cherry blossom viewing) festival at the Nitobe gardens at UBC on Saturday.  (Some similar photos from last year are here.) 

Outside the tea house, while ceremonies went through the afternoon, Marg and Barb from the SSBC played duets.  I can't recognize many folk and modern pieces by name, but I did recognize some Fukuda Rando.  Obviously that couldn't be "traditional", but it sure was nice.  Peter and Al played energetic pieces elsewhere in the garden.  Visitors were mesmerized.  Even I found a corner of the garden to inflict some quiet honkyoku, possibly beyond earshot of the teahouse though.  I think folk and lively contemporary music was most appropriate for such a spring festival.  You're lucky if you can find a regular setting like that to volunteer at.

-Darren.

Cha No Yu Ondo is a nice piece;  my teacher's group played it in both honte and kaede parts together with koto and shamisen a couple of months ago; it's tricky initially as you can get distracted by the other part.  Luckily I was playing honte so it was easier as I was following the shamisen.  Two years ago I was asked to play for the first Kochi Urasenke branch tea  ceremony of the New Year; it was in a fancy Japanese ryokan called Joseikan which has the distinction of being the place where the Japanese Emperor stays on the rare occasions when he visits Kochi (he visited Kochi over a decade ago when I by chance was riding a streetcar back to town and the motorcycle cops and then his black limousine turned right in front of the streetcar to drive into the Joseikan's garage; the street was thronged with well wishers waving little Japanese flags, and the Emperor had his hand out waving to the crowd).  As for the tea ceremony, when I got there I found that I wasn't invited to play for the tea ceremony itself, which went on for about an hour and a half, with guests entering and leaving, admiring the tea bowls, scroll in the tokonoma, the ikebana etc. and passing around very expensive tea ceremony utensils.   After it was over there was a luncheon in another tatami mat room for 30 or 40 people and I played Sagariha, Takiotoshi, and Hifumi Hachigaeshi.  Unfortunately we don't have many little tea houses in town here.  It would be great to be able to play outside one of those little tea houses in temple gardens in Kyoto -- especially that rustic one at Daitokuji that has a little crawl in entrance from the garden outside -- when a ceremony is going on.