The Universal Flute

Shakuhachi players of old followed the path of ichion-jobutsu, or “enlightenment in a single tone.” The spiritual element of the simple bamboo flute with its notched mouthpiece and five fingerholes is essential to its existence, and part of what led Henry Cowell to refer to it as “the universal flute.” Ralph Samuelson’s album shares that name, and presents remarkably evocative works for the shakuhachi by American composers.

The shakuhachi first came to prominence in Japan in the 17th and 18th centuries, when it was taken up by a sect of Zen Buddhist monks who used shakuhachi blowing as a core spiritual practice. That core remains, but innovators always recognized the potential in the deceptively plain instrument and in the latter 20th century, composers, performers, and audiences around the world discovered the special depth and beauty of its sound. In the 21st century, the shakuhachi can no longer be defined simply as a musical instrument associated with a particular place and time, but has indeed become an integral part of our globalized world.

Ralph Samuelson, who is among the first generation of non-Japanese musicians to achieve professional recognition in the shakuhachi world, was trained in the classical tradition of the Kinko School by the late Living National Treasure Goro Yamaguchi and other leading teachers in Japan.  He has played an important role in bringing the shakuhachi to the West, and since the early 1990s he has been exploring the growing repertoire of new shakuhachi music by American composers.

For this recording, he has selected several pieces that demonstrate a true understanding of the foundation of shakuhachi music yet bring a whole new dimension to the life of the instrument. The recording takes its inspiration from Henry Cowell's lovely 1946 composition The Universal Flute and adds richly varied works by Richard Teitelbaum, Bun-Ching Lam, and Elizabeth Brown. A landmark piece by Japanese composer Teizo Matsumura sets the tone for compositions that capture the essence of shakuhachi within a contemporary idiom. Samuelson is joined by virtuoso artists Yoko Hiraoka (koto and shamisen), Tomoko Sugawara (kugo harp) and Steve Gorn (bansuri).