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Bamboo-In Blog
April 12, 2008
I just deleted the past 5 years of blog posts! I'm in the process of revamping this site. It's much to cluttered and disorganized. I'm working John Endo Greenaway (www.bigwavedesign.ca) for the new look. I love John's sense of design. Can't wait till this is all cleaned up! John is also the one responsible for getting us the Yoshida Brother's gig as well so I'm very grateful to him. I can't believe I've known him for so long. Ever since I got to Vancouver 12 year ago! He is the pioneer of Taiko in Canada (he started Katari Taiko and Uzume Taiko) as well as many other things. Speaking of which I will be going with Uzume Taiko to Germany in a few days. We'll be there from April 13-May 12. I hope to meet the shakuhachi folks there in Germany and Holland.
Today is the O-hanami at UBC Nitobe Gardens! It's going to be great. Koji Matsunobu is in town and a bunch of the students and Kozue Matsumoto the koto player will be coming to play together. The weather is supposed to be beautiful. Hopefully it won't be too cold.
March 12, 2008
Just heard from Global Arts Concerts that Dharmakasa will be opening for the Yoshida Brothers when they come to Victoria and Vancouver. It'll be a good gig for us. Will get more exposure and make more contacts for touring in Japan!
Yoshida Brothers (w/Dharmakasa)
May 23, 2008- 8 PM
Victoria, BC
Alix Goolden Performance Hall
907 Pandora Ave.
Tel. 250-386-5311
Tickets Sold at:
McPherson Box Office , Tel. 250-386-6121
Yoshida Brothers (w/Dharmakasa)
May 24, 2008- 8 PM
Vancouver, BC
Vancouver Playhouse
Corner of Hamilton St. & Dunsmuir St.
Tel. 604-665-3050
Tickets Sold at:
Ticketmaster Vancouver , Tel. 604-280-4444
March 12, 2008
I just checked prices for going to Australia and it looks like it will be a bit too expensive for me to attend the World Shakuhachi Festival this year. Too many expenses to take care of to attend I'm afraid.
Every Monday we have a koto/shakuhachi rehearsal in Kitsilano with Kozue Matsumoto, koto player. It's really great that we've established a regular weekly routine. This is really great for everybody's playing!
March 5, 2008
My new CD, "Zen Shakuhachi 2" is out!
So is the new Dharmakasa CD, "Between Worlds", and the first Densabi CD will be coming out very soon as well. I'm looking forward to playing with Densabi again. March 18th at the Cellar.
Dharmakasa may be opening for the Yoshida Brothers when they come to Victoria and Vancouver on May 23 and 24. That should be really great!
Here are photos from the last two New Year's parties of the SSBC:
February 29, 2008
Alan Dargin one of the greatest and most influential digeridoo players has passed on into the Dreamtime on Feb. 26! I was very shocked to hear this. He was my very first digeridoo teacher and the most influential player for me in my didgeridoo playing. I first met him in Japan of all places in 1993 while he was on a tour with his Aborigine dance troup. At the time I was living in a small village in the middle of Japan and I coudn't believe this group came to do a show at one of the theatres in the prefecture. I'll never forget the first time I heard his powerful, beautiful playing of his solo that night. I met him after the show and he gave me my first lesson on didge. This inspired me to go to Australia soon after to learn more about the didge and to see and feel the Australian landscpae (particularly the outback: Arnhemland, Katherine, Kakadu, Uluru, Cairns....) and to harvest bloodwood for didges! I met up with Alan once again in 1995 in Bali, Indonesia at the International Bamboo Congress during the music festival. It was great to see and hear him again and get another lesson. Below is a photo of us together in Bali:
Me and Alan Dargin in Bali, 1995
Alan busking at Circular Quay in Sydney
(Photo by Anoek De Groot)
Alan's spirit lives on in his music and memories. May you be happy and peaceful in the Dreaming, Manipwvuiwunimurrgurrmurrwy!!!!!!
February 6, 2008
Wow. I've really been lazy about posting on my blog! Gomen nasai! My my time in So. Cal this past Jan. 21-31 was great! The show at UCSB was very well received and the response to my honkyoku presentation was overwhelmingly positive. I re-connected with my old friend and band mate, Sudama Mark Kennedy of the Dreamtime Continuum and met new students, Emiliano Campobello and Bob Sedivy who have a great enthusiasm for shakuhachi! Also spent a lot of time harvesting agave stalks in the hills of Ojai and making didgeridoos. It was very enlivening. I did contact June Kuramoto of the band Hiroshima (by email), but we couldn't meet this time due to scheduling issues. I hope to play with her the next time I'm in LA. We'll make it happen!
This Saturday is the SSBC Fukizome at Ayako's tea house. I'm really looking forward to it. I will also be teaching at a new place staring next week.
I'm already getting excited about this coming November's Shakuhachi Roots Pilgrimage #5! All spots are already filled. The participants are:
1. Jane Kilthau (NY, USA)
2. Eric Wuersten (Seattle, USA)
3. Stan Goldberg (San Francisco, USA)
4. Thomas Brezing (Munich, Germany)
5. Chris Bernetchez (Gibsons, BC, Canada)
6. Valerie (Chris’s partner) (Gibsons, BC, Canada)
7. Shawnee Schroeder (LA, California, USA)
8. Shawnee’s partner (LA, California, USA)
January 6, 2008
2008. It's going to be a busy year. Lots to do.
My month of December back east was really nice; spending time with family, teaching students in Montreal and doing a concert; despite it being worst day of the year (big blizzard) people still came to the show! Quite amazing. Met and played with Linda Kaplan in Toronto which was really fun. End of this month I will be going to Santa Barbara to do a performance at UC Santa Barbara and Ojai. Also will make some agave didgeridoos and hopefully meet Jun Kuramoto, koto player from the band, Hiroshima. Starting to plan my roadtrip for the winter for 2009.
November 4 , 2007
Last weekend we had our shakuhachi student recital. It went very well. Nice to hear everyone play and then share food together. Larry Yan treated us with a fine performance of Chinese flutes: xiao and dizi.
The students are in Japan now starting their shakuhachi pilgrimage. I'm so excited for them! They will have such a wonderful time. Very well deserved as they worked so hard this year. I will be going definitely again next year. 2008 is going to be a very busy year. I just got invited by Uzume Taiko to tour with them in Germany in April-May. Then we're (Dharmakasa) shooting to go to Australia in July to tour and attend the World Shakuhachi Festival.
Sandra and I will be going to Ontario for the month of December. I will have a concert and teaching in Montreal (Dec. 14-17) then spend time with Sandra's family in Barrie. Hope to meet Linda Kaplan, koto player and Aki Ten Ten, shamisen player.
Septmeber 10 , 2007
What a summer! So much work done here. Sandra's parents spent the last month and half with us. I feel so blessed that they are my in-laws. Their spirits are so pure and beautiful. On top of that, they have an incredible amount of energy as they were non-stop cleaning, building, and fixing things around the place. We re-did the roof of the small deck and insulated it; build a huge woodshed, and built a large extended roofing for Sandra's kiln; and also built a small workshop for my shakuhachi-making. On top of all that Sandra's dad who is a gifted gardener, refined and beautified the garden even more.
This Saturday, Matheus will be coming from Brazil to do a shakuhachi retreat.
Dharmakasa has also been going through some major changes. We added a drum kit (Shambunata) and bass player (Cameron Hood) and added a bunch of new pieces to our repetoire. We've been working on finishing our new CD which will be out in November. We played our public debut of the new 4 piece group at the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Classical Chinese Garden on September 7 in the evening. It was, I feel, a resounding success! Our new sound is so different than our previous sound. It's more "jazzy", "bluesy", "dancy", and "rock-n-roll" sounding now. Dare I say more commercial? The good thing about this is that it has more audience appeal and we'll be getting more work from it. Earlier that day we played at an elementary school in Coquitlam and everyone loved it! We're going to be focussing a lot on developing our school show for kids which I really enjoy. I'm also going to try to get Dharmakasa to tour in Australia next year in June leading up to the World Shakuhachi Festival in Sydney. Also hope to do a tour of Japan in October as well.
My new CD of honkyoku will be out this week as well so I will be having CD release performances on the Sunshine Coast. Then in December I will be having shows in Montreal and Toronto. Then hopefully doing a tour of the South and Northwest......
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