Hi, everyone.
This is my first post to share my music, because I’m a shakuhachi player, and I haven’t had the chance to perform new music with shamisen…until now!
Years ago, I asked my friend Barry Seroff to write a piece for 2 shakuhachi using Latin rhythms. He wrote this…and then we had to wait several years to perform it. Maybe we needed the time to find the right string players. We were lucky enough to get Sumie Kaneko and Kento Iwasaki to join us.
I asked Kento about Sumie Kaneko’s shamisen, and this is what I remember: “Oh, she plays Yamada-style; It’s a ji-uta shamisen, but she’s influenced by naga-uta and her bachi is naga-uta.” After that, it got way too technical for this poor shakuhachi player.
I hope you enjoy it. This was a real passion project for me, and I’m proud of the whole team!