Sound of Salvation: Zen Music and Japanese Bamboo Flute Performance
Monday, April 14 at 12:30 p.m. at St. Lawrence University Sullivan Center, Winston Room
This concert will be co-hosted in partnership with St. Lawrence University’s Religious Studies Department.
Experience an unforgettable journey of global music, Monday, April 14, 12:30 – 1:30 p.m. in the St. Lawrence University Sullivan Center, Winston Room, with the Aeolian Trio. The concert offers a unique experience bringing together the extraordinary talents of shakuhachi (flute) master and California native Bruce Huebner, New York-based Japanese guitarist Shu Odamura, and percussion virtuoso Todd Isler, whose expertise spans South Asian and Middle Eastern rhythms. The Sound of Salvation concert is being offered to the community as part of a four-day musician’s residency.
When asked about the importance of the shakuhachi music to people today, Mark MacWilliams, professor of SLU religious studies said, “It’s a living spirit filled sound–with ancient reverberations from Japan’s past but also powerfully alive in today’s Jazz.” In the ancient imperial palace of Japan in Kyoto, elegant dances and classical music called “Gagaku” involved the “shakuhachi”, a Japanese-style bamboo flute. The music was played in the emperor’s court until the 10th century when there were changes in orchestration because the flute was challenging to hear over the court drums. Several centuries passed without references to the instrument appearing in historical documents. Then, during Japan’s Edo period beginning in the 1600’s, there was a resurgence of its popularity in the Fuke sect of Zen Buddhism.
The Fuke Buddhists, who had taken a vow of poverty and relied on alms to pursue their faith, performed ritual music as an “expedient means” for salvation with the shakuhachi flute. Followers of Fuke Zen were known for playing shakuhachi in public while begging. The monks originally were known as Komosō “straw mat monks” but eventually became known as Komusō “monks of emptiness”. These “monks of emptiness” were easily spotted in public wearing white robes with a large straw-woven basket covering their heads, representing the monk’s removal of self and ego. The shakuhachi (flute) became popular again after the 1868 Meiji Restoration that restored imperial rule in Japan leading to a period of rapid modernization.
Concert attendees will experience a dynamic blend of traditional, jazz, and contemporary influences,
showcasing the seamless connections between cultures and the universal language of music which connects the unique musical traditions of the ancient network of 2nd – 15th century trade routes known as The Silk Road to our contemporary world.
In addition to the concert at SLU, the Trio will also be our musical guests during worship on Sunday, April 13th.
The Sound of Salvation: Japanese Bamboo Flute and Zen Music concert is part of the year-long World Spiritual Practices Project (WiSPP) grant from the Unitarian Universalist Association funding program (UUFP), which is supporting experiences from a diversity of religious and spiritual perspectives that will be conveyed through workshops, worship, speakers, arts and cultural performances.