Date: Fri Apr 4, 2003
Subject: Kyoto Winter/Spring Report (incl my new address)

Hi folks,

Once again it's been a while and I've got a few interesting stories and plans to tell you about...

It's now spring in Kyoto and that means Sakura - Cherry Blossom time. I've just moved house (due mainly to a protracted personality clash with a housemate) into a one-room apartment in north Kyoto, just across the road from the Kamo river and numerous cherry trees, so the time's right for a Hanami (flower viewing)/housewarming party. It's good to have my own space (or to be more accurate to be sometimes sharing with my lovely girlfriend Sayaka) and as a bonus it's much cheaper than my old place. The only downsides are - the road is quite busy (but I'll get used to that soon enough, I hope), and there's no shower, so I have to visit the local sento (public bath house). Sentos are pretty nice though - lots of spas and saunas and cold tubs etc.

BTW My new address is -
[Deleted as no longer relevant.]
Kita-ku, Kyoto-shi 603-8136
JAPAN

I haven't written in such a long time that I've still got some winter stories to tell - the highlight of my Japanese winter has got to be visiting Kurama, in the mountains north of Kyoto. It was a partly fine, partly snowy day, and we spent the day walking through the mountains in occasional light snowfalls, visiting temples and shrines and then finishing up in the outdoor onsen (hot spring), gazing at the forested mountains while sitting naked in natural hot water and watching snow flakes fall through the rising mist. Fantastic!!!

There wasn't too much snow through winter, until March! At that time there were a few heavy (for Kyoto) snowfalls. All in all winter wasn't as bad as I'd expected. The coldest day was about 0 degrees but other than that it was quite refreshing.

MUSIC NEWS -
Last week I had my first chance to see some local kids making African music (as against local kids banging on djembes and blowing into didjeridus). The band was called Hamanah and are based in Osaka. There were 3 djembe players, 3 doundoun players and a dancer/shaker player. They played with a Guinean guy called Mamoudou Diabate, who lives in Tokyo and plays bolon and djembe and sings. The band were really great - I really felt natsukashii (nostalgic) for listening to Elliott and co play their rhythms back in Australia. They played a lot of the same rhythms, like Kassa, Fume Fume, etc. Surprisingly Mamoudou didn't play the lead djembe role at all - two of the Japanese guys took that on really well with fantastic and happy energy. The band leader really reminded me of a Japanese Elliott (for all you Brisbane people) - lots of fun and very entertaining and sincere about his music too. The band all wore West African costumes, including hats, and they did quite a bit of singing too, which was great.

As for me, in the last few months I've had some great musical opportunities, mainly having chances to play with some of Japan's best sitar players, Kenji Inoue and Yasuhiro Minamizawa. I've only practised with Minamizawa-san so far, but boy can he play beautifully. The Kenji Inoue story is a bit more interesting...

He called me up one day to ask me to play a session with him. That was a great surprise, because as I said he's one of the top players in Japan and we'd only met once about 6 months before. Anyway, it turned out we were playing in a cafe with a bass player (who also tinkled away on the kalimba a bit) and a belly dancer. We played one raga as a duo, then the musical trio played a range of pieces ranging from jazz/ethnic-influenced Kenji Inoue originals to "Montego Bay" and "My Favourite Things". The night culminated in the belly dance performance which started with a rendition of Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Lova" and went improvisationally from there. All in all, one of the most eclectic nights I've been involved in for quite some time, and that's saying something!

It was the first opportunity for me to play fully improvised, non-Indian classical music since I left Australia and I realised I've really been missing playing that kind of music. SO I'm now hoping and planning to visit Australia some time next year to catch up with all my old friends and hopefully even play enough gigs to pay for the airfare. Around the same time I'm planning to to the same in Japan, although in Japan I'd say all the gigs will be pure classical.

I'm now in the countdown to India. In 3 more months I'll have enough cash to stay in India for several years, and I'll head there in time for Guru Purnima (Guru's full moon). I intend to stay in Varanasi for 2 or 3 weeks for that, and then escape the heat to the mountains and do some intense solo practise and Hindi study in a lonely shack somewhere.

I've been quite happy with my development lately, although of course as I'm working full-time I can't practise anywhere near enough. But I've been feeling good about the practice I do get done and I feel like I'm ready to make big steps when I get to India. I'm ready to get deep and mystical with it, do some intense practice and learn lots.

If all goes well, my dream is that I can be based in India for the next 10
years and make enough cash on music tours to Japan and Australia to
sustain living in India. Failing that, I guess I'll be back in Japan teaching English some time in 2005.

Well, once again I've written a short novel of an email...
Love to all,
Shen
Aum Mani Padme Hum