Elizabeth Reian Bennett September 10, 2006

Elizabeth Reian Bennett will play a shakuhachi concert of pieces from her new CD, Song of the True Hand, to mark its September release. The program will feature the meditative solo pieces played by wandering monks in Japan hundreds of years ago; Seiho Kineya’s “Pilgrimage”, a modern piece arranged by Reian Bennett’s teacher, Reibo Aoki; and an improvisation based on the classical tradition.

The shakuhachi is an end-blown bamboo flute called after its length, about 1.8 feet long. Special techniques have evolved to play it by raising and lowering the chin to reach the proper pitches, and shaking the head to produce a vibrato effect. The shakuhachi is unique among instruments in its production of tonal effects, which can range from clear silver sound to notes charged with overtones, breathy, flutter-tongue or wavering. In the ancient solo pieces, each breath is an entire phrase; the notes must keep their relationship within it. The longer the breath, the greater the opportunity for subtle variation as the air flows out.

Because of its history as the instrument of wandering monks in Japan, some say that the shakuhachi reproduces a call from the next world, or the sound of a human soul. The influence of this Japanese ‘soul’ music is central to Reian Bennett’s performance, from the anonymous pieces hundreds of years old, to works written for her and of her own improvisation. Elizabeth Reian Bennett is the first woman to be certified a Grand Master of the Shakuhachi and one of the few western players trained in traditional Japanese music. She has studied and performed with Living National Treasure Reibo Aoki, recognized as Japan’s foremost shakuhachi instrumentalist, for twenty-five years. Recently returned from a year in Afhganistan, Reian Bennett pledges 10% of her yearly profits to Aschiana, a school for street kids in Kabul.

Japanese refreshments will be served.

Official Website: http://zeitgeist-gallery.org/archives/2006/09/elizabeth_reian.php