{"id":1470,"date":"2010-03-10T20:42:10","date_gmt":"2010-03-10T11:42:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2010-03-10\/1470"},"modified":"2010-03-10T21:48:37","modified_gmt":"2010-03-10T12:48:37","slug":"zak-braverman-shakuhachi-concert-at-chez-barbery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2010-03-10\/1470","title":{"rendered":"Zachary Braverman Shakuhachi Concert"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n<div class='resize_warning' id='arw1470'>\n<b>NOTE<\/b>: Images with an <img class='raw' width='19' height='18' src='\/i\/s\/red_zoomup.gif'\/> icon next to them have been artificially shrunk to better fit your screen; click the icon to restore them, in place, to their regular size.\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div class='ic tight'><a name=\"030012\" href=\"\/i\/JF7_030012.jpg\"\n><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/i\/JF7_030012_sm.jpg\" width=\"690\" height=\"459\"\nalt=\"Zachary Braverman playing a long shakuhachi -- Copyright 2010 Jeffrey Friedl, https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/\"\nid=\"i030012\"\ntitle=\"Zachary Braverman playing a long shakuhachi -- Copyright 2010 Jeffrey Friedl, https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/\"\/><\/a>\n<br\/><span class=\"camera-info robots-nocontent\">Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 40 mm &mdash; <sup>1<\/sup><big>\/<\/big>160 sec, <span class='f'>f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 3200 &mdash;\n<a href=\"\/imageinfo.cgi?url=http%3A%2F%2Fregex.info%2Fi%2FJF7_030012.jpg\">full exif<\/a><\/span>\n<br\/><span class='caption'>Zachary Braverman<\/span>\n<br\/>playing a long shakuhachi\n<\/div>\n\n<p>A week ago a friend hosted a private <a\nhref=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Shakuhachi\">shakuhachi<\/a> concert by\nanother friend, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kotodama.net\/blog\/\">Zak Braverman<\/a>. <span class='nobr'>A shakuhachi<\/span> is <span class='nobr'>a bamboo<\/span> flute that\nsuperficially looks <span class='nobr'>a bit<\/span> like a <a\nhref=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Recorder\">recorder<\/a>, but its sound is\nvery distinctively Japanese. Zak's main skill is in producing <span class='nobr'>a pasta<\/span> sauce to die for,\nbut this day's event tapped into his minor talent of being one of the best shakuhachi players in the\nworld.<\/p>\n\n<p>Zak has appeared on my blog many times (such as <a\nhref=\"\/blog\/2009-09-20\/1316\">here<\/a> playing shakuhachi\nin an eclectic ensemble), but more often it's his kids <a\nhref=\"\/blog\/2008-11-24\/1008\">Gen<\/a> and <a\nhref=\"\/blog\/2009-04-12\/1185\">Tamaki<\/a> that appear.<\/p>\n\n<p>After playing one piece in the living room, <span class='nobr'>Zak decided<\/span> to switch to the\nadjoining <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Washitsu\">washitsu<\/a>\n(traditional Japanese style room with tatami grass-mat flooring) for its\nbetter acoustics, which is what you see above. Shakuhachi come in <span class='nobr'>a variety<\/span>\nof sizes, and Zak used two during the concert; the picture above shows him\nplaying very long one, more suited to some very old traditional pieces.<\/p>\n\n<p>I brought along the audio recorder that <span class='nobr'>I recently<\/span> wrote about (<a\nhref=\"\/blog\/2010-02-24\/1462\">here<\/a> and <a\nhref=\"\/blog\/2010-02-26\/1463\">here<\/a>) to see what kind of\nrecording <span class='nobr'>I would<\/span> get, but since <span class='nobr'>I was<\/span> recording the <i>room<\/i> and not\nthe <i>instrument<\/i> (and maybe also because <span class='nobr'>I don't<\/span> know what I'm doing\nwith it yet), the results are disappointingly hollow and one-dimensional.\nStill here are <span class='nobr'>a couple<\/span> of pieces of Zak on the Long Flute to at least give\nyou <span class='nobr'>a sense<\/span> of the sound. <span class='nobr'>The first<\/span> is an old, traditional pure shakuhachi\npiece:<\/p>\n\n<center style='margin-top:40px'>\n<object width=\"400\" height=\"42\">\n<param name=\"src\" value=\"http:\/\/regex.info\/i\/s\/Braverman-Shingetsu.mp3\"\/>\n<embed src=\"\/i\/s\/Braverman-Shingetsu.mp3\" width=\"400\" height=\"42\" autostart='false'><\/embed>\n<noembed>Click <a href=\"\/i\/s\/Braverman-Shingetsu.mp3\">here<\/a> to listen<\/noembed>\n<\/object>\n<br\/><span class='caption'>Shingetsu &middot; <span class='nobr'>\u5fc3\u6708<\/span><\/span>\n<br\/>author unknown, circa &#8220;at least <span class='nobr'>a few<\/span> hundred years ago&#8221;\n<br\/><span class='subtle'>( <a href=\"\/i\/s\/Braverman-Shingetsu.mp3\">Download here<\/a> )<\/span>\n<\/center>\n\n\n<p style='margin-top:30px; margin-bottom:40px'>This next piece is <span class='nobr'>a modern<\/span>\none with <span class='nobr'>a melancholy<\/span> sound, which <span class='nobr'>I prefer<\/span> to the piece above because <span class='nobr'>I\nfeel<\/span> it's more expressive. This is likely because my rough un-artistic ways\ncan't grasp the subtle nuances of art, but in any case, with these poor\nrecordings, there aren't much in the way of nuances to grasp, so take them\nwith <span class='nobr'>a grain<\/span> of salt.<\/p>\n\n<center>\n<object width=\"400\" height=\"42\">\n<param name=\"src\" value=\"http:\/\/regex.info\/i\/s\/Braverman-Koka-no-Uta.mp3\"\/>\n<embed src=\"\/i\/s\/Braverman-Koka-no-Uta.mp3\" width=\"400\" height=\"42\" autostart='false'><\/embed>\n<noembed>Click <a href=\"\/i\/s\/Braverman-Koka-no-Uta.mp3\">here<\/a> to listen<\/noembed>\n<\/object>\n<br\/><span class='caption'>Koka no Uta &middot; <i>Melody of the Koto<\/i> &middot; <span class='nobr'>\u80e1\u7b33<\/span>\u306e\u6b4c<\/span>\n<br\/>original piece for <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Koto_%28musical_instrument%29\">Koto<\/a> and Shakuhachi by Seihou Nomura, 1975\n<br\/>transcribed for solo shakuhachi by Zak's shakuhachi sensei\n<br\/><span class='subtle'>( <a href=\"\/i\/s\/Braverman-Koka-no-Uta.mp3\">Download here<\/a> )<\/span>\n<\/center>\n\n<p style='margin-top:40px'>As <span class='nobr'>I said,<\/span> <span class='nobr'>Zak is one<\/span> of the best shakuhachi\nplayers in the world, so if Zak and <span class='nobr'>I ever<\/span> make <span class='nobr'>a proper<\/span> studio recording\nthat accurately reflects the sound, I'll update these files.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A week ago a friend hosted a private shakuhachi concert by another friend, Zak Braverman. A shakuhachi is a bamboo flute that superficially looks a bit like a recorder, but its sound is very distinctively Japanese. Zak's main skill is in producing a pasta sauce to die for, but this day's event tapped into his minor talent of being one of the best shakuhachi players in the world.<\/p> <p>Zak has appeared on my blog many times (such as here playing shakuhachi in an eclectic ensemble), but more often it's his kids Gen and Tamaki that appear.<\/p> <p>After playing one piece [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1470"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1470"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1470\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}