The cherry blossoms are long gone here in California, but in Japan they bloom famously from early March through the end of April. It reminded us that it's been six years since we've done a program of Chinese and Japanese spacemusic, an omission we're going to fix on this edition of Hearts of Space.
Traditional Chinese and Japanese music goes back several thousand years, with hundreds of regional styles and dozens of exotic-sounding string, wind, and percussion instruments, like the pipa (a four-stringed lute), the violin-like erhu. and the end-blown bamboo flute called the shakuhachi, used by Buddhist monks for meditation. It's a tradition that's been challenged in the dynamic environment of modern China and Japan, but there are dedicated native and western artists working to transform it for the 21st century.
On this transmission of Hearts of Space, contemplative sounds of China and Japan, on a program called PATH TO STILLNESS. Music is by WU MAN, HIROKI OKANO, YANG YING, FORREST FANG, MICHAEL ATHERTON & JAMES ASHLEY FRANKLIN, and featuring shakuhachi master RILEY LEE.
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