Japan: Shakuhachi Music / A Bell Ringing in the Empty Sky

Submitted by nonesuch on
Release Date
DescriptionExcerpt

Different from most other traditional Japanese musics, that of the shakuhachi (an end-blown vertical bamboo flute) is purely instrumental, yet it is often better able to reflect the heart of Japanese culture than vocal music. The pieces on this album come from the 18th-century school of the samurai turned monk Kinko Kurosawa.

ProductionCredits

PRODUCTION CREDITS
Originally released in 1969 (H-72025)
Produced by Peter K. Siegel
Recording engineer: David B. Jones
Mastered by Robert C. Ludwig
Coordinator: Teresa Sterne
Remastered by Robert C. Ludwig

Design: Doyle Partners
Cover Photograph: © Burt Glinn / Magnum Photos. 1961. Japan. On the Inland Sea, a boat adrift in the reeds.

Nonesuch Selection Number

130364

Number of Discs in Set
1disc
Album Status
Artist Name
Explorer Series: East Asia
MusicianDetails

MUSICIANS
Goro Yamaguchi, shakuhachi

reissues?
reissues
Cover Art
UPC/Price
Label
CD+MP3
UPC
075597998887BUN
Label
MP3
Price
7.00
UPC
075597998870
  • 130364

News & Reviews

  • The reissue of the groundbreaking Nonesuch Explorer Series titles from Japan is now complete, with the recent addition of two more titles. The Independent exclaims, "It's wonderful that Nonesuch is reissuing the 92-LP Explorer Series, which put ethnomusicology on the map in the Seventies," and says of the recently reissued Koto Classics: "[I]t's wonderful to hear once more koto master Shinichi Yuize in his prime ... and these classic pieces display [the koto's] suggestive power to the full."

  • "Never again will a record company essay what the producers of the Nonesuch Explorers did in 1967, bringing out a series of superb field recordings to make, eventually, a 92-record set," says The Scotsman in its five-star review of the two titles that marked the reissue of a number of Japanese Explorer Series albums on CD this fall: Koto Classics and Geza Music from the Kabuki. "The vinyl LPs ... brought to light a wealth of hitherto hidden traditions," says the review, and their return as remastered CDs "is simply wonderful, because much of this music—four decades on—is now either extinct or grievously debased."

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  • About This Album

    Credits

    MUSICIANS
    Goro Yamaguchi, shakuhachi

    PRODUCTION CREDITS
    Originally released in 1969 (H-72025)
    Produced by Peter K. Siegel
    Recording engineer: David B. Jones
    Mastered by Robert C. Ludwig
    Coordinator: Teresa Sterne
    Remastered by Robert C. Ludwig

    Design: Doyle Partners
    Cover Photograph: © Burt Glinn / Magnum Photos. 1961. Japan. On the Inland Sea, a boat adrift in the reeds.