| A New Sound for Traditional Instruments from Tokyo. |
Two long-time residents of Japan, Curtis Patterson and Bruce Huebner are attempting to go where others have dared not - to create a straight, honest sound for the koto and shakuhachi. Applying what they've learned through over 20 years of study in Japan, they perform a repertoire that stretches from classical to jazz, and includes new works as well as fresh arrangements of popular tunes. At times improvisational, their music comes freely - in tune with the present while rooted the past. It is a fresh musical outlook for these ancient instruments - sometimes bringing to mind the mountains and rivers of Japan - at other times becoming a simple reflection on daily life. Curt and Bruce released a CD “Going Home” in March of 2007 and have performed over 50 concerts around Japan in unusual settings such as temples, shrines, gardens and historical buildings this year.
Writing about the duo’s debut CD “Going Home,” Hougaku Journal said,
“We are assured by the lack of artifice or pretentiousness in their music. This calm is combined with a brilliance of tone rarely achieved these days by Japanese artists working with traditional instruments.”
“ Patterson and Huebner's music demands to be performed on Japanese instruments even as it is sometimes “Western” in feeling and not confined to Japanese traditional forms or scales. Patterson’s koto rings out like an ancient wagon court zither and Huebner’s shakuhachi moves freely, complementing the simple palette. “
“The music comes to life. Patterson and Huebner share a wonderful affinity. “ |
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| North America Concert Schedule in January 2008. |
The duo will be abroad for the first time, with performances in Vancouver, B.C. and Seattle, Washington. North American audiences will be able to hear Curt and Bruce’s unique perspective on the koto and shakuhachi, Japanese music, culture and its place in the world.
January 13, 2008 at 8:00PM
Vancouver Promusica Concert Series
Western Front, Vancouver
303 East 8th Avenue, Vancouver BC
(604) 876-9343
$15/$10 students, seniors & artists (available at the door)
http://www.vancouverpromusica.ca/node/19
January 14, 2008 at 8:00PM
Chapel Performance Space, Seattle
4649 Sunnyside Ave. N, 4th Floor, Seattle, WA
(At Historic Seattle's Good Shepherd Center, in Wallingford, 1/2
block south of 50th St.,
1 block east of Meridian)
$15/$10 students, seniors & artists (available at the door)
http://gschapel.blogspot.com/
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| Contact |
The duo is available for interviews, concerts, workshops or lectures on Japanese music, music history, composing for traditional instruments, and performance practice.
For Inquiries or Booking Please Contact:
Zabu Tone Music
3 -10 -13 - 605 Kita Terao, Tsurumi
Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan 230-0074
tel/fax: 81-45 - 571 ? 8428
e-mail: info@zabutonemusic.com |
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Profiles |
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Curt Patterson
A native of Chicago Illinois, Curtis Patterson studied with modern koto great Tadao Sawai. He holds a master's license from the Sawai Koto Institute and is the first non-Japanese national to graduate from the NHK training program for young performers of traditional Japanese instruments. Currently residing in Tokyo where he also teaches koto and shamisen, Patterson has performed with a wide variety of artists including screen actress Matsuzaka Keiko and popular singer/songwriter Kei Ogura. He was part of the AUN drumming unit's 50 concert tour in 2002 and appeared on the main stage at the 2004 Rain Forest World Music Festival in Sarawak, Malaysia. A member of the Sawai Tadao Koto Ensemble, Soemon and the US based Koto Phase, Patterson released a solo CD "Oto No Wa" in 2002 and was musical director for the 2005 documentary film "Magnificent Obsession : Frank Lloyd Wright's Buildings and legacy in Japan."
Bruce Huebner.
California-born Bruce Huebner studied shakuhachi under the late Goro Yamaguchi (Living National Treasure) at the prestigious Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Music. He is the first non-Japanese to receive a master's degree in traditional Japanese music performance at the university. He earned his masters license from Chikuyusha, one of the oldest shakuhachi guilds, in 1997, and gave two solo shakuhachi recitals of Japanese classical music. In 1998 Bruce produced an instructional video on shakuhachi performance in English, and in August 2000 he led the Contemporary Sankyoku Ensemble's six- state US Tour while releasing a solo CD of traditional shakuhachi music, "Song of Daybreak." In 1999 Huebner co-founded the Jazz/World Music group "Candela," which has recorded and performed to wide acclaim in Japan, as well as at venues in the United States, Canada and Europe. |
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| Interview Article about the Duo’s Activities in Japan. |
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a. Americans playing Japanese instruments?
People in Japan respond to us with great curiosity. We are invariably asked, “Why do you choose these instruments?” Often if the person has a chance to attend our concert, the novelty evolves to appreciation or respect, or sometimes even envy. We often hear comments like, “Wow! I've missed something of great value that was right under my own nose. Thank you so much for showing me!” A young woman seeing our pleasure in performing on traditional instruments said, “I feel envious.” Why? “I love traditional arts, I often go to kabuki, but you have much more freedom with these traditions. It’s a bit of a shock.”
b. We often hear Japan is a “Closed Society.” Is that true? How does that effect you?
Recently we have been enjoying success, touring the countryside and small cities giving grassroots concerts. These concerts are produced with ticket sales, advertising and stage management being carried out by local people, most often with little or no “public money,” corporate sponsorship, mass media exposure, or production company commercialism. We speak Japanese fluently and our relationship is direct to the local producer with no middleman.
This grassroots activity arose in part out of frustration with the closed system of traditional music, the lack of venues where we can effectively reach an audience, and the general apathy toward traditional music as it is usually packaged. Clubs, western style halls, koto group concerts, shakuhachi amateur gatherings and concerts featuring weird fusions have been off limits to us or fail to draw an audience. We know, however, that the music is vibrant and the public responds very positively when given a chance. Thus we have sought out different non-traditional venues to replace the moribund ones. The local support for this has been amazing.
Ironically we are beginning to find fresh “new places” and audiences by playing in what have been thought of for years as “old places” ? temples, shrines, soba shops, historic buildings ? where people in the past gathered naturally, and still feel an affinity if given a chance. This year we have performed in over 50 such locations around Japan.
c. Heritage rediscovered: “New” in “Old”
The synergy between location, community and music is contagious. The overwhelmingly positive reaction to these homegrown concerts shows that we aren’t the only ones looking for something “new” in an “old” place. Concern about the environment, crisis in education, and a general malaise here in Japan has sent many people searching as we did. After over twenty years as American musicians doing this great traditional music in Japan in relative obscurity we are at last finding our role.
Ironically a coming trend in Japan will be the slow realization that there is this dormant heritage close at hand. Japan has been so enamored with the West for so long. A concert at a proud 400 year-old samurai residence, or at a grand, high ceiling wood shrine in the shadow of a sacred mountain is an intense musical experience for both listener and performer. It musters local pride. “This place was perfect with the instruments.” “I never knew shakuhachi and koto could sound so beautiful - the setting was perfect.” “I new this place was here, but never had been inside.” “With all the warmth - the wood and music I felt relaxed and I met people that I would not have otherwise.” But that beautiful house is moldering as we speak, the effect of neglect is creeping up at all sides, there is a cultural crisis here.
Facing an aging population, general decline and apathy toward the “old,” local leaders realize that these gatherings serve as a chance for people to rediscover a place and then a community. It is enormously gratifying as musicians to be part of this fledgling movement.
d. How is your concert different from the usual Japanese koto and shakuhachi concert?
One shakuhachi player said, “You draw from so many sources, the concert was really interesting. We Japanese can’t do this.” A local concert producer said, “I put on many koto, shakuhachi concerts and I like them, but you guys are different. You are doing this as music, they are doing something different.” Another listener said after the concert, “I've been to other concerts where I got sleepy. Yours was enjoyable all through and your banter between songs is really good, almost like manzai (comic dialogue.”)
Paraphrasing Donald Richie, the foreigner in Japan can sit on a ridge and look down into two valleys. He can travel down into and enjoy the fruits of either one. As foreign musicians in Japan we have a perch from which we can venture down into one valley filled with the traditions that we continue to respect and study, or the other valley of our homeland, drawing on jazz or classical music, for example. I think most musicians around the world share this desire for freedom.
I might add because of the difficulty of the instruments and social, linguistic and political barriers, it is a long trip to bear fruit here in Japan. Anyway, we have committed 20 years plus now and we must utilize this unique situation.
e. How do you fit into the Japanese traditional music scene?
Traditional music in Japan is very deep and very narrow. Once you choose a particular teacher or school that’s it for life. Dabbling in other styles or genre is forbidden under threat of excommunication. On the upside there is an audience for you among the acolytes who truly understand and appreciate the style. They know the difference and you have to respect that. The downside is that audiences are dwindling rapidly.
We are in a different business than the folks that study and patronize traditional music. Our target audience is the educated, music loving general public. So we aspire to replace “narrow and deep” with “wide and deep.” This policy is born of a necessity to communicate to an audience that is not concerned with the idiosyncrasies of the traditional schools.
We have been blessed with the best teachers in Japan, lived, traveled and been inspired by Japan’s natural beauty. We are free to compose and improvise, reinterpret the classics and modern works and take risks that are often unacceptable politically and musically for many of our Japanese friends. We have great opportunities to play for receptive, almost hungry, audiences.
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| Hougaku Journal Review of CD “Going Home.” |
Americans Curt Patterson and Bruce Huebner, long time residents of Japan, perform their album“Going Home”entirely on Japanese traditional instruments, namely the 13-string zither, the koto, and the bamboo flute, the shakuhachi. A glance at the cover photograph of newly planted rice (so central to life in rural Japan) and the simple title puts us Japanese at ease. Taking a listen we are further assured by the lack of artifice or pretentiousness in their music.
This calm is combined with a brilliance of tone rarely achieved these days by Japanese artists working with traditional instruments. Why is it so difficult for Japanese musicians to approach their native instruments in this natural way? Could it be that they dwell on idiosyncrasies rather than allow the instruments to speak?
It is noteworthy that while Patterson and Huebner's music is sometimes “western” in feeling and is not confined to Japanese traditional forms or modes, it demands to be performed on Japanese instruments. Patterson’s koto rings out like an ancient wagon court zither as he strings together soft morsels of sound, and Huebner’s shakuhachi moves freely, complementing the simple palette. The music comes to life, a natural product of the distinctive qualities of Patterson and Huebner’s respective chosen instrument.
The album’s encore track is the famous “Haru no Umi” (Spring Sea) by Miyagi Michio, but their performance is refreshingly different from the Miyagi School version we have grown accustomed to.
Patterson and Huebner share a wonderful affinity. It is difficult to imagine their music conveyed through anything other than Japanese instruments. Hearing these straightforward performances it occurred to this reviewer that indeed we all, Japanese and foreigner alike, have a longing for a shared spiritual home. (Hogaku Journal, July, 2007.)
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