Tradition and Beyond - The International Shakuhachi Society

Tradition and Beyond

Michael Chikuzen Gould
Le Tuquet Records - LT-081401
2001

Track	Title	Kanji	Length	Artist
1	Moment of Bliss, Kyushu		03'03	Shakuhachi: Michael Chikuzen Gould
	This song is about a space of time; a space of time which is of tremendous value. Imagine, the last five minutes of the walk from your car to the time clock; you are not in a hurry, you savor the time because it is a special moment before your day starts you and before you start your day. Instead of a parking lot you are walking down a path beside the fields into a valley to begin your days work.
2	Happy at Work..Fields and Terraces		02'08	Shakuhachi: Michael Chikuzen Gould
	A self-explanatory title: Our farmer happily lost in the rhythms of his work.
3	Forlorn…To the Streets and Buildings, Wondering		02'48	Shakuhachi: Michael Chikuzen Gould
	Unable to make ends meet, thoughts of moving to the city bring sadness and remorse with a yearning to remain in a familiar setting.
4	Frenetic…Wandering		01'46	Shakuhachi: Michael Chikuzen Gould
	The ending of this saga finds our farmer accustomed to the city, at least on the exterior. Although he is functional, he harbors inside himself a secret self, like another life, the farmer of old that he can never return to. He seems to be schizophrenic.
5	Yama no Oto		05'44	Shakuhachi: Michael Chikuzen Gould
	In general, the mountains in Japan are not too high but very steep. So, when the sun sets, it does so very quickly. This song depicts a peaceful evening scene near a mountain village. Smoke from the stoking of flames for the evening bath may be seen here and there. Quickly changing hues are painted as the sun moves across and down the ridges bringing an end to the day for many tired bodies and at the same time, ushering in the new sounds and rhythms of the creatures of the night. This song is a free-improvisation between the two Gould's.
6	Mushi Ondo		03'52	Shakuhachi: Michael Chikuzen Gould
	Michael Gould (percussion) used to sit in the darkness of his room listening to the cacophony of insect noises outside: crickets, cicadas, etc. Living next to a rice field, the croaks of the rice paddy frogs would add to the din. Michael heard patterns in this created from the first croak of the frog, followed by others joining in until they reached a collective rhythmic "groove" only to return to the quietness enveloping the sounds of the smaller insects again.
7	a distOrted dreAm…		07'25	Shakuhachi: Michael Chikuzen Gould
	The percussion part for this piece takes its inspiration from Karlheinz Stockhausen's work-Mikrophonie 1 (1964) for tam-tam (two players), two microphones, two filters and controls. In the instructions he provides some commentary on his new use of recording equipment and electronics: "The microphone has, up to now, been treated as a lifeless, passive recording instrument for the purpose of obtaining a sound playback that is as faithful as possible: now it also has to become a musical instrument, and to be used in turn to affect every aspect of sound. Thus it has to be able to contribute to shaping pitches, harmonically and melodically, also rhythm, dynamic level, timbre and spatial projection of sound, according to composed indications." I have taken Stockhausen's idea of making the microphone and electronics operator an equal musical partner with the tam-tam and shakuhachi. In Stockhausen's initial experiments for Mikrophonie I, the microphone and electronics operator are allowed to react spontaneously to the results of the combined activity. In keeping with the changing states of dreams, I have let the tam-tam, microphone and electronics operator remain free to react to each other while the shakuhachi remains in the role of a child. The shakuhachi throughout the piece is "singing" children's songs unaware of any problems or misfortune and unable to interface with the dream. The tam-tam is the dream trying to compare the vision in front of itself with its own memory (sometimes hearing the child's song). The distortion (microphone/electronics operator) literally lies between the dream (tam-tam) and the child (shakuhachi). The shakuhachi melodies are Japanese folk tunes and children's songs.
8	Tsuru no Sugomori (Dokyoku)	鶴の巣籠	07'25	Shakuhachi: Michael Chikuzen Gould
	Michael "Chikuzen" Gould is attempting to express the cries of the beautiful Siberian cranes that migrate by the thousands every year to Japan.
9	Wind Phobia		05'58	Shakuhachi: Michael Chikuzen Gould
	A pleasant breeze may be the harbinger of a menacing apparition. Two melodies throughout this movement compete for attention and the energy of the wind. In the middle of the movement, the two melodies meet and quickly go their own ways.
10	Rooted within Earth		02'10	Shakuhachi: Michael Chikuzen Gould
	Relative to geological time, the time span of a human being is a blink of the eye. One revolution of the Earth, again and again, today, tomorrow, now, the future. Thoughts are put into action affecting the universe regardless of conscious intention. No need to waste time.
11	Sea Dragon City		04'02	Shakuhachi: Michael Chikuzen Gould
	Long ago, a monk sat beside a lake playing his shakuhachi. Benzaiten, the Goddess of the Sea (and also the Goddess of Music) heard his playing. Benzaiten surfaced with a dragon and after conversing with the monk decided that she would transmit the secrets of shakuhachi music to him but she could only do that through the dragon. Here, the movements and cries of the dragon can be heard through the sound of the waves.
12	Fire		01'27	Shakuhachi: Michael Chikuzen Gould
	The crackling sound and jumping flames can be mesmerizing to all that sit and watch. It is soothing but has the ability to destroy. To destroy is to change and to change is to create.