DESCRIPTION:
"Ekoh" 回向 and "Sleeping Dragon".
Live at the Forte House in San Francisco August 9, 2014.
Performed by Cornelius 深禅 (Shinzen) Boots on a 2.9 jinashi Taimu shakuhachi crafted by Ken Mujitsu LaCosse.

The first piece, Ekoh 回向 is from the honkyoku 本曲 ("classical") repertoire of the shakuhachi, a Zen flute used for breath awareness and cultivation of nature music and chant for over 1000 years in Japan. Ekoh is a slow moving, long tone classical Buddhist piece similar in spirit to Tamuke and Kyorei. Koden honkyoku are classical Buddhist pieces that have been transmitted in the same way that Buddhist teachings in general are "taught" or passed on to the next generation.
Sleeping Dragon is an original composition written as part of "mukyoku," 27 pieces written for these raw, glowing, wide-bore Taimu flutes. Both songs are featured on the album Mountain Hermit's Secret Wisdom, recorded in a cave:
https://corneliusboots.bandcamp.com/album/mountain-hermits-secret-wisdom
bonus tracks and photos of the recording session:
http://youtu.be/EMRT47wYWPs

From the Chikuzen Shakuhachi Sheet Music Series:
"This song was transmitted from Ichigetsuji, a temple in the Kanto region of Japan. Ekoh's meaning may be found in Buddhist concepts such as kusho, tamuke, fuse and kishi. All of these ideas pertain to offering prayers or chanting sutras for the benefit of souls who have passed from this world (shujo ekoh) as well as for one's own personal benefit (bodai ekoh). One should play this piece with an appropriate attitude of purity of intention."

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Shakuhachi Blues Master & Bamboo Gospel Preacher. From hymns to heavy metal, traditional and new music for standard & bass (Taimu) shakuhachi flute, the robust woodwind of Japan. Boldly evolving the deep roots of Zen Buddhist shakuhachi, rooted in aliveness, awareness and the natural world.

Bass Shakuhachi Champion & Zen Shakuhachi Practitioner-Teacher, Reverend Boots is a fearlessly innovative woodwind composer-performer, educator-philosopher and lifelong professional in creative music. Founder-creator of Black Earth Shakuhachi School, Edmund Welles: the bass clarinet quartet, Heavy Woodwind Theory and the robot bass clarinet.

"I am committed to woodwind performance as a living art form in collaboration with the natural material, with plant consciousness. Because of this, I only play on jinashi or 100% bamboo, unlacquered shakuhachi, hotchiku and Taimu flutes." 深竹道 - 地無し尺八

Cornelius is the first student of Grandmaster Michael Chikuzen Gould to have earned a Shihan (master teaching license) and was given the shakuhachi name 深禅 "Shinzen" (depth Zen or deep Zen). In addition to teaching, Cornelius has recorded and written, in shakuhachi calligraphic notation, a series of 27 etudes (mukyoku) for Taimu shakuhachi. He plays all types of flutes, but specializes in jinashi and large-bore shakuhachi.

Visit www.shinzenshakuhachi.com and sign up on the mailing list or contact Cornelius for online or in person lessons. You don't need a flute or "basic sounds" before you start learning: with shakuhachi, these are very important aspects of your first lessons.

More information on his original compositions for Taimu (bass) shakuhachi:
http://www.mujitsu.com/mukyoku/

"Free Bird" renegade nature music video
http://youtu.be/DTmf4MChsMY