Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

Go here  http://www.bamboo-in.com/shop/honkyoku.htm
With kind thanks to Alcvin Ramos.

Kel.      §

Hi all, Today I made a flute out of a piece of sample bamboo that was sent to me from North Carolina. I guess you could call it "home grown".

It had been sitting on my front porch here in sunny Northampton where it gets southern exposure and was slowly getting brown. I had been curious about this one piece in particular as it kept my attention day after day. It was just a beautiful piece of bamboo in it's simplicity. After two weeks, it was nearly brown but still had some green.



Then I receive word that my friend and colleague Fred Ho had contracted prostate cancer and just had an emergency operation. He survived and is now in stage 3, which is not great news. He now faces a difficult task of recovering and preventing a reoccurence. As I sat on my porch contemplating life, I found myself staring at this piece of bamboo and asked myself, 'Why wait six months, this shakuhachi has to be made now".



Fred is an enormously talented composer /musician who has done much for America with his relentless  social activism through his art/operas. You can read about Fred here http://www.bigredmediainc.com/pubphoto.htm



I left the piece as long as possible in honor of Fred. His main instrument is the Baritone Sax. This is a 3.0 shakuhachi.


The finger holes are big.

As a Chinese American, Fred created a hybrid style of Jazz with his Afro  Asian Art Ensemble that combine Chinese instruments and sensibilties with Jazz. Fred is truely one of America's great "home grown" artist.

I made a recording of Choshi http://www.yungflutes.com/samples/fredchoshi.mp3 to share as all of Freds friends across the country are meditating for his recovery. Clicking on this link may bring about a collective, healing vibration.
Thanks for listening.
Peace, Perry

Alex wrote:

Hey Perry!

Thanks for sharing that wonderful piece of bamboo! I think great flutes are great becasue they have great stories behind them, so it s a pleasure to see and hear such a great flute!

Hope your friend Fred will get better in no time (when I finish this message I ll go and listen to some of his music!), and for what it may be worth, tonight I ll blow some good vibrations for him

Salud y alegria

Alex

Hi Alex, Thanks for your kind response. This piece of bamboo is quite alive. It is changing daily in both viusal and tone color. I left on on my porch and it's getting browner. The sound has also changed since it's drying. I'm not sure if I could say better or worse, just different. I've been playing it daily and thinking of Fred. He just went through his first Chemo treatment and responded well to it.

The shakuhachi is a wonderful instrument. If played from the heart, it can soothe the soul, calm the physical body and tame the mind. Listener and player alike.

Namaste, Perry

Last edited by Yungflutes (2006-10-16 00:37:20)