It's GORGEOUS! Brother - I am HEARING EVERY VOICE, which is a total trip! Seriously, stunning. (And oh yeah - I made it to the end!)

Nightingale Soul Call
A unique live duet between a nightingale and a Japanese shakuhachi flute, accompanied by shruti box.
Nightingale Soul Call expresses a suspended moment in time in which Adrian Freedman’s shakuhachi met the nightingale, and together with Sam Lee, a meeting of kindred souls took place, through the medium of universal sound and silence.
The nightingale is a master of lyrical improvisation and of meaningful silence. Adrian Freedman is a master of the ancient Zen flute, shakuhachi, known for his soulful improvisations, and for the way he integrates sound and silence in his performances.
Nightingale Soul Call was recorded in the middle of the night at Highnam Woods in Gloucestershire. This track sits at the heart of the Kindred Souls album, representative of a truly spontaneous and heartfelt artistic collaboration that cuts through all boundaries of culture, nationality and even species. One heart, one world.
The shruti box drone is played in this track by Sam Lee, who plays a unique role in the British music scene. A highly inventive and original singer, folk song interpreter, conservationist and broadcaster, he is the founding inspiration and guiding light behind the ‘Singjng with Nightingales’ project, which aims to raise awareness about the precarious situation facing nightingales in this country, and which brings together the finest musicians in the land to duet with the sweet sounds of the nightingale.
Each spring Sam Lee hosts a series of live events in which he takes invited musicians to step silently into the woods as darkness falls, to hear the nightingales sing in thrillingly close proximity, and to sing and play alongside.
The Kindred Souls album, to be released in June 2021, features Adrian Freedman and 20 other musicians from five continents. Recordings of spontaneous connections made with musicians around the planet.The ‘Kindred Souls’ of this project are musicians like Adrian who have been drawn to world music, meditation music, medicine music and devotional music from various traditions around the world. The encounters between these musicians and Adrian reflect a spontaneous, intuitive musical flow, in which music is celebrated as a universal language of the heart, transcending cultural boundaries.
Some of the recordings are from the studio and some from live performances.
SAM LEE Bio
Mercury Prize nominated Folk singer, song collector, promoter (of BBC award winning Nest Collective) radio host, TV personality, teacher and animateur, Sam released his debut album “Ground Of Its Own’ comprised of songs learned 1st hand from the Gypsy Traveler community. The recording is a new musical manifesto, reflecting Sam's unique artistic journey. Winner of the 2011 Arts Foundation Award, he is fast becoming accepted as a new pioneer, defining the sound, sight and texture of folksong today. Likewise his band 'Sam Lee & Friends' perform unconventional and contemporary interpretations challenging all preconceptions of what ‘traditional folk’ should sound like.

Released by www.niximusic.com

Kindred Souls

Nightingale Soul call

Nightingale Soul Call (feat. Sam Lee)

Broadcast on the radio show "Performance Today" of the live performance (U.S. Premiere) of "Concertante" for shakuhachi, koto, cello violin and orchestra.

Performance Today  "Concertante"

3/28/2020 - I am sharing a musical oddity born out of “Shelter-at-Home” and the urgent need to create. This is the first “dan” of the Japanese koto classic “Rokudan” recorded on seven differently pitched shakuhachi. You are hearing one single melody that I overdubbed with instruments tuned to E, Eb, D, Db, C, B, and A. If I had more flutes in different keys I would have included those to add to the general cacophony.  So here goes – listen up – and if you make it to the end, please let me know.
 
Why did I really do this?
 
New York City is in the midst of a Covid-19 crisis. Our hospitals and health care workers are struggling to keep people alive under horrific circumstances. There is a massive shortage of hospital gear and health care workers, who are terribly at risk, need everything - masks, gloves, sanitizer, gowns, etc. If you enjoyed my musical curiosity, or if you hated it, either way please consider a donation of $10 or more directly to this “gofundme” project. https://www.gofundme.com/f/x43rkz-critical-protective-gear-for-healthcare-workers
 
Thank you, James

Rokudan!!!

Shakuhachi teacher, performer, composer.

“James Nyoraku Schlefer occupies a special place in [New York City’s] cultural life, composing and performing music that bridges Western and Japanese styles.” The New Yorker

James Nyoraku Schlefer received the Dai-Shi-Han (Grand Master) certificate in 2001, one of only a handful of non-Japanese to receive this high level award. In 2008, he received his second Shi-Han certificate from Mujuan Dojo, in Kyoto. In Japan, Schlefer has worked with Reibo Aoki, Katsuya Yokoyama, Yoshio Kurahashi, Yoshinobu Taniguchi, and Kifu Mitsuhashi. His first teacher was Ronnie Nyogetsu Seldin. He holds a Master's degree in Western flute and musicology from Queens College and currently teaches shakuhachi class at Columbia University and music history courses at the City University of New York. He has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, Tanglewood, BAM, the Metropolitan Museum, at colleges and universities throughout the US and has toured in Japan, Indonesia, Brazil and counties in Europe. Schlefer has four solo recordings, Wind Heart (which travelled 120,000,000 miles aboard the Space Station MIR) Solstice Spirit (1998), Flare Up (2002), and In The Moment (2008). His music has been featured on NPR’s All Things Considered. Schlefer’s latest recording Spring Sounds, Spring Seas was released in June 2012 and features his original music for shakuhachi and orchestra.

Schlefer is a member of the Japanese music group Ensemble East, which performs traditional and modern music for Japanese instruments, including the shamisen and the koto. An exceptional solo artist, his appearances include lectures about the origin, history, and development of Japanese music. Schlefer has been a soloist in several orchestral settings including the New York City Opera, Karl Jenkins’ Requiem, and others. He has performed and lectured at Duke University (in two, week-long artist residencies), and at the Juilliard School, Manhattan and Eastman Schools of Music, Vassar, Haverford, Brown, Moravian, Colby, Colby-Sawyer, Williams and Hunter Colleges, and at music festivals in the US, South America, Asia and Europe.

Nyoraku Sensei is head of the Kyo-Shin-An teaching studio in New York City. He has published books of traditional notation and written two etude books for shakuhachi technical development. As a composer, Schlefer has written many pieces for Japanese instruments including a shakuhachi concerto, a quintet for shakuhachi and string quartet, and numerous pieces for traditional Japanese instruments.

Rokudan!!!

nyoraku

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