"The temple bell
stops
but the sound keeps
coming
out of the flowers"
Haiku by Basho (quoted
in booklet for Arvo Pärt's Arbos)
The Shakuhachi was introduced to Japan
from China in the 8th century but these
pieces have their origins in the Edo
period (1600-1868) and have mainly been
passed down via an oral/aural tradition
to the present day. Some of the pieces
included are more modern arrangements
of traditional pieces (early 20th century).
These two exemplary
discs complete a seven disc series which
represents a long-standing labour of
love for the increasingly essential
Tall Poppies label. The shakuhachi is
not an instrument I can even begin to
claim a great knowledge of but my earliest
conscious exposure to it was probably
its use in Ry Cooder's atmospheric soundtrack
to Walter Hill's seminal Southern
Comfort. This was a setting somewhat
removed from its original context, as
was, although to a lesser extent, the
Japanese flute's next incursion into
my listening, jazz legend Tony Scott's
masterpiece Music for Zen Meditation.
The title here gave some indication
of the context in which much of this
music is grounded, although I was more
aware of Zen Buddhism through the beautiful
Haiku of the poet Basho at that stage
(see example above).
When hearing this pair
of discs it was no surprise then that
my thoughts turned to the most celebrated
of 20th century Japanese
composers - the late Toru Takemitsu.
A large proportion of his output has
a Zen aspect to it and especially chamber
scale pieces like the delicate Bryce
came to mind. Less predictably,
I was also prompted to remember Edmund
Rubbra's immortal Jade Mountain
sequence, especially the final song,
dedicated to a Buddhist priest returning
home to Japan from China, but in its
essence rather than its substance, given
that Rubbra used harp rather than wind
accompaniment. The music recorded by
Riley Lee, astonishingly almost all
of it in two consecutive afternoons,
is by necessity, of a purer, more traditional
form than any of the musics mentioned
above, as it originated with Zen Buddhist
priests. The series title "Yearning
for the Bell"/"Reibo" provides a common,
often revisited thread, and is synonymous
with a "yearning for enlightenment".
Other recurring themes are references
in the titles of pieces to the crane,
a bird held sacred to the Japanese,
and to the biosphere in general - valleys,
sky, pines, boulders…..
If I have given the
impression of oriental muzak
then nothing could be further from the
truth, there is just a single bamboo
flute at work here (except in one case
there is a multitracked duet), beautifully
captured by the recording, meditative
in the main but also quite austere -
very much in keeping with the "more
is less" Zen philosophy. There are even
some more abrasive, abstract elemental
sounds, especially on the aforementioned
duet (Nesting of the cranes/Tsuru
no sugomori) on Volume 6, although
there is nothing on either disc which
could be classed as music for people
in a hurry - barring one, all pieces
top five minutes and many exceed ten.
Time is needed to get inside this music
but once there it is quite a magical
world, albeit something of an acquired
taste. Analysis of individual tracks
appears somewhat pointless when the
whole project, let alone the individual
volumes, seems like a self-contained
entity, with Riley Lee, despite his
Texan origins, living, breathing and
believing totally in his art.
Tall Poppies is a visionary
label and this enterprise is in many
ways typical (even though the music
is not) but it is also a key player,
along with New Zealand's Rattle, ABC
Classics and even Naxos, in raising
the highly deserving profile of music
from the orient and Australasia into
the global consciousness.
Neil Horner
Riley Lee, shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute)
