The Zen Flute (The Distant Call of the Deer)

The shakuhachi, also known as the Japanese Flute, is traditionally made from bamboo root; rather than mimicking the Western flute that is played by blowing across the embouchure hole, the Shakuhachi is more similar to a clarinet in the sense that it is played by blowing straight into the end. The term shakuhachi itself actually refers to the standard length; a shaku is a unit of length equal to 30.3 centimeters divided into 10 subunits and hachi means “eight” (in this context it is referring to 8 suns (tenths) of a shaku). Therefore, shakuhachi altogether means “one shaku eight sun” or 54.54 centimeters (about 1.8ft). It is built with 5 tone holes that are tuned to a minor pentatonic scale, which is standard in this region; this tone holes can also be partially covered in order to create semi tones, which aren’t as common in Western music. Originally, the shakuhachi was used by Zen Buddhist monks as a spiritual tool for meditation; their songs would be paced with the players breathing in order to help facilitate calmness. Nowadays, this instrument has found it’s way into other genres such as jazz and folk music, but it is still used for meditative music.

Rodrigo Rodriguez is a shakuhachi musician who originated from Argentina, but spent most of his childhood in Spain. The shakuhachi was his first experience with an Asian instrument which further enriched his fascination of Japanese music. He travelled to Japan numerous times to study under the lineages of Katsuya Yokoyama with the Master Kakizakai Kaoru in the International Shakuhachi Kenshu-kan School. Over the years, he has performed in many concerts and has even released a couple albums. In late 2009 he began his studies with the renowned master of Japan’s leading players of shakuhachi, Miyata Kohachiro because of his interest in furthering his knowledge of both contemporary and koten (traditional solo) shakuhachi music. This song in particular was a single that he released in November of 2018 as a collaboration with this teacher. 

If you would like to learn more about Rodrigo Rodriguez and see more of his music, here is a link to his official website.