Date: Wed Sep 1, 2004
Subject: Touhoku Tour

Hi folks,

I'm now settling in to my new place in Tokyo (actually just outside Tokyo proper), and have had one of the most interesting couple of weeks in my musical life, so I felt I had to share it with you...

The day after arriving in Japan I zipped off to Niigata, about 4 hours north of Tokyo, to spend a couple of weeks with sitar player Michiro Kimura. I first met Michiro a few years ago in Varanasi when he was living next door to Munna House. We had some great practice and struck up a natural connection. Earlier this year Michiro came to Varanasi again (he's now a student of the great Pt. Manilal Nag in Kolkata) and invited me to join him for a tour of Touhoku, the northern part of Honshu (main) island in Japan. It was one of the most interesting experiences of my life, with 9 concerts in 12 days and many diverse people and places along the way. Japan's countryside is
astoundingly beautiful!

Concert 1 - Niigata City - We played in a beachside cafe/restaurant, all natural wood, lovely atmosphere, great success! The audience was much better than expected (about 60 people) and we were even more surprised when about 1 in 6 of those people bought an EthnoSuperLounge CD. Actually this ratio continued throughout the tour and I sold out of the 50 copies I'd sent from Australia before reaching Tokyo at the end of the tour. The morning after the concert I had my first chance to swim in the Sea of Japan - nothing like Australia's beaches but I always like to commune with the ocean...

Concert 2 - Yamagata Prefecture - Here we played in a large space in a sake distillery which was being used as an art gallery, in collaboration with artist Chieko Kanaya. The moment I saw Chieko-san walking her funky walk up to meet us, smiling from deep insid, I was deeply impressed. At a guess, she's about 50-55 years old but she has such a wonderful blend of youthful energy and seasoned wisdom. Her art, a combination of pottery and painting, expresses themes such as "setting free the inner child" and "the pure undefended state of bliss" (a lovely painting of a breast-feeding woman). She lives in England and I think she can speak English better than me!!! It was an honour to perform at her exhibition and once again it was a great success. I had my first chance to stay in a traditional Japanese ryokan that night and the following morning bathed in the ryokan's onsen (natural hot spring bath).

Concert 3 - Iwate Prefecture - Our host was Iwasaki-san, a wealthy retired businessman, violinist and orchestral conductor, who lives in one of the biggest houses I've ever seen in Japan. Part of the house was a high-ceilinged octagonal music room with all natural wood finish designed for chamber music recitals and therefore containing 2 grand pianos, an organ and a harpsichord. Funnily enough the name of this very high class establishment is "La La Garden Hall."

Concert 4 - Oyu, Akita Prefecture - The drive through Akita-ken was a joy, with some of the most beautiful scenery I've ever seen. Endless vistas of forested mountains, streams, waterfalls, the occasional blue-green lake. We stopped in at the famous Tamagawa Onsen on the way, which is one of the strongest onsens in Japan. Plenty of smelly natural earthy substances in that hot spring water! It actually stings a little in the undiluted baths, especially in the more sensitive regions! The baths were in a huge old dark wood barn partitioned into the men's and women's sections. There were maybe 6 or 7 different kinds of bath depending on the source of the water and the dilution, plus a sauna and some very sour drinking water. Oh what a feeling!

Oyu is the site of some ancient stone circles in the far north of Honshu. Michiro's wife Reiko's father had previously stayed for long periods in a lovely ryokan there and so we were treated to a night there in return for a free concert for the ryokan residents and friends. Unlike the previous highbrow evening, this was much more of a family affair. The kids really enjoyed my tabla solo, which nowadays always culminates in my version of a dance rhythm in which a rabbit and a deer are chased out of a dark forest by a lion. But what a beautiful ryokan, set next to a stream and once again including it's own onsen. I had what was certainly the biggest and most delicious Japanese meal in my life, with 10 different dishes and plenty of beer to wash it down, while being entertained by the ryokan's Mama-san's husband. Well, to be honest, it was mainly Michiro and Reiko who were being entertained as I couldn't understand his strong country-accented Japanese at all! The funniest thing was that after 2 hours of him chatting away exclusively in Japanese, I was told that he had been a senior high school English teacher for 38 years! That might explain why many Japanese have such trouble with English...

Concert 5 - Niigata again - After the 12 hour drive back from Akita and a couple of days "off" (actually spent repairing my tabla which had finally given up the ghost following the irradiation treatment imposed by Australian Quarantine), we had a smallish concert in Studio K, a recording studio owned by friends of my hosts Michiro & Reiko, followed by the ubiquitous (usual) session of eating, drinking and chatting into the night.

Concert 6 - Kamo city, Niigata - The best concert of the tour, held in a lovely temple next to Michiro's 90 year old great-uncle's house (what a lovely man!). Japanese temples are just perfect for Indian classical music, especially for someone like Michiro who really does play some of the deepest and most artistic sitar I know. This was a donation affair and managed to draw about 90 people, mostly local senior citizens who really resonated with Michiro's relaxing and emotional style, and also gave great appreciation to my tabla solo. (I really have to thank Michiro for requesting that I do a 20 minute tabla solo every time, and as always I dedicated it to Guru-ji.) A grand success (the donations being reasonably generous, the audience the biggest of the tour, and the music the most soulful)!

Concert 7 - Yayoi city, Niigata - At the other end of the spectrum (but still enjoyable), we played at a local cafe owned by a potter. Before the concert the audience had a barbeque and plenty of beers. Very funny! The rabbit, deer and lion went down very well. Lots more food and drink afterwards as usual...

Concert 8 - Tokyo - A private concert in collaboration with an aromatherapist and a Japanese Native American musician. All told 16 people sat in a circle in a lounge room well-stocked with crystals, quartz stone lamps, feathers and so on and shared their impressions of a couple of aromas, a couple of very slow gentle ragas and a couple of Native American pieces. Lovely.

Concert 9 - Tokyo - Once again the spectrum was traversed from one day to the next, as our final concert was held in Studio Act, usually a rock venue. Big sound, small audience (well, smaller than we needed). This was what Bobby Singh calls a "Bhupali concert". (In Raga Bhupali, the notes are SaReGaPaDhaSa, ie. there is no Ma and no Ni - no MaNi.) But we made the most of our last chance to play, eat, drink and be merry together for some time.

But all up, it was a fantastically successful tour, with lots of beautiful music and great times. It was also just fabulous to be playing hard core sitar-tabla music again every day. While I really enjoyed playing world music fusion in Australia (and every time I listen to those home concert recordings a tear comes to my eyes because they really were magic), there really isn't anything like good solid Indian classical instrumental and tabla solo music
for playing the full range of what is possible on tabla. I think of all the sitar players I know, Michiro plays the widest range from very slow to very fast, with true devotion to the mood of the raga. And he's only been playing 7 years! I really have to thank Michiro for inviting me and Reiko for organising such a great tour. I hope we can do it every year!

If you've made it this far, thanks so much for reading about my experiences. I know I can ramble and it's probably far too much for your typical rushed
email session...

Love to all
Shen
Aum Mani Padme Hum