In the early 80s, Japanese flutist Tosha Suiho realized his recording project "Four Seasons in Kyoto", a series of solos recordings, performed around Kyoto over the course of 1 year. All recordings were done outdoors, at specially selected locations. To avoid unwanted human noise pollution, most of the recording sessions took place either late at night or in the early hours of the morning.
The pieces can be described as compositions with improvisational elements, each one having a special connection with the location of its performance. In his free-flowing play, Tosha is reacting to / in dialogue with the different ambiences, very much like a jazz-musician might, carefully weaving his music into the sonic textures of the elements(wind, water), nature (birds, plants) and the human world (in "Hieizan", represented by the bell of a nearby monastery, calling the monks to their morning prayers).
The music could be categorized as something like "contemporary traditional": elements from classic Japanese music reshaped and newly blended under the influence of different modern styles. Instruments are the Shinobue and Nokan bamboo flutes.This is a 3-CD set (originally released on 4 LPs). Each file is one complete CD, the first file includes cover pics and booklet (German only). [Edit 12/07/14: all CDs are in one file.]
Listen in the dark: (1)
Bravo, you never fail to amaze me. Í'm really enjoying each one of your posts.
ReplyDeleteI am totally thrilled to receive this! Wonderful edition to a stunning set of offerings. Cannot commend your team enough, kudos esp. to you for this one, Earwicker!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure, but it looks like there might be a tagging (?) issue with some of these tracks. Some are 160kps bitrate, and others register as 32kps bitrate (!) and are extraordinarily long, like ~79min (!). This is in Itunes on a Mac, though, and I haven't tried any other variables. I used Max (the converter) to convert these mp3s to significantly bulkier 320kps files, and everything seems fine, lengths of tracks and even the sound quality (those that previously came up as being 32kps almost surely are not, they sound better than that). So there is a tip for anyone else who's having the same problem. I feel like maybe I reinvented the wheel...is there a shorter or more sensible way to address such a problem? It's happened to me a number of times...(not from here though). thanks again for the awesome music! I find myself wishing that the tracks _were_ each 79 minutes.
ReplyDeleteAdam & Grasp - thanks for the praise. It's always nice to surprise (in a pos. way, of course).
ReplyDeleteGrasp: I'm on a Win PC, & I've encountered files with strange birate- and length-values in the tags, too. But the playback was always okay.
Howevermoreover, I checked the mp3s of this DL again, and they were all good. Variable bitrates around 400-something in the average.
amazing! Tosha Suiho is a great musician. I have a record of him playing with terumasa hino called Fuu, i'm think is from the eighties. are you interested?
ReplyDeleteI have a record of him playing with terumasa hino called Fuu, i'm think is from the eighties. are you interested?
ReplyDeleteYes.
great, i will posted in my blog: http://labateriafina.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeletethanks.
hi, love your blog- thanks for sharing these nice japanese records.
ReplyDeletecheers
You're welcome, Lisard. I know we've been a líttle short of Japanese Music posts here in the last weeks, but there'll be more in 2008 - great Gagaku, some nice Naga-Uta and more kotos and flutes.
ReplyDeleteI Don't wrong. This MUSIC is beautiful. Now, in the night, sound like the breathe of the goddess
ReplyDeleteThanks A Lot
Thank You for posting such a wonderful recording -
ReplyDeleters linx ok as of today -
best wishes - arshille
thanks man for this morning listin' pleasures.. have been enjoying yr efforts.. Appreciated!!!!
ReplyDeleteI've just downloaded these on PC and have similar problems to those described by grasprelease on November 24, 2007 "Some of these tracks are 160kps bitrate, and others register as 32kps bitrate (!) and are extraordinarily long, like ~79min" I've come across similar issues occasionally though never on your remarkable site
ReplyDeleteI wonder this is a sakujachi music, made wiyh bamboo flutes, I really apreciatte if you upload again.
ReplyDeleteI remember Fourth worlf of John Hassell & Brian Eno
I have to second Ineluctable/inescrutable, as I'd really love to hear this one, too, and no links are working, and Sharebee is confusing and bizarre.
ReplyDeleteAh, it is really getting difficult to get higher-quality obscure music off the internet these days. I applaud you fellows and hope that you can find a reliable repository for all your efforts.
Probably, you should just start an analogue reproduction service and begin a subscription-only catalogue. Sounds really 1972, I know, but--I'd sign up!
Links are back up.
ReplyDeleteYour suggestion about starting an analogue reproduction service does sound intriguing, but I don't think I'm up to it.
I converted all of the tracks from the original upload to tracks all with fixed bit rates and correct times. Sorry, no more 79-minute tracks.
Hello. I've been following your blog for a while now and I've enjoyed everything that you've put up over these years. Thanks for the wonderful music! Is it possible to put up the links to this again? Last time I checked, all the links were down.
ReplyDeleteLink is finally back up.
ReplyDelete