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Shakuhachi Festival, Shakuhachi Music

World Shakuhachi Festival Texas 2025

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Here are some information about the World Shakuhachi Festival Texas 2025, on April 17~20, 2025. Here is the link to the website: https://wsf2025.com

“WSF 2025 is the eighth major international shakuhachi festival to be held since the original 1994 WSF convened in Bisei, Okayama Prefecture, Japan. It will feature a diverse range of music in concerts, workshops, lectures, exhibitions, masterclasses, and informal gatherings, in a diverse range of genres such as jazz, contemporary music, cross-cultural fusion, improvisation, video games, rock, and pop, among others.”

The Early-Bird registration  is now open, until December 31, 2024.

The festival offers the possibility to apply for a scholarship to potential WSF 2025 participants from any country. Scholarship application deadline is December 15, 2024.

There will be a performer’s competition during the festival. This competition is open to all registered general participants of the World Shakuhachi Festival 2025. Deadline for submissions will be December 31st.

Have a look at the general schedule to get an idea of the program, and find all the details on the concerts and workshops pages. It is going to be amazing!

I feel honoured to be part of this unique event as an invited guest and to represent the Hijirikai school there!

Hope to see some of you there!

Shakuhachi Performance

Zac Zinger’s Haiku in Variation

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An original composition for shakuhachi and string quartet

How do you compose new music for a traditional instrument like shakuhachi? Do you take your inspiration from the traditional repertoire? Do you think of a Western flute and adapt your composition to be played by a shakuhachi? Do you need to play the instrument yourself or do you collaborate with a specialist of the instrument?

Zac Zinger

Zac Zinger is an outstanding composer, arranger, multi-instrumentalist, jazz saxophonist and shakuhachi player. He plays shakuhachi with a deep respect to the instrument, a good knowledge of its traditional and folk repertoire, and an amazing virtuosity. His compositions and arrangements are brilliant. He recently premiered “Haiku in Variation“, an original composition for shakuhachi and string quartet, for which he had won the Fumi Onoyama Grant from the “Salon De Virtuosi“.

Fortunately, the concert (featuring The Resonance Collective at Merkin Hall at New York City as part of the Salon De Virtuosi Awards Gala on October 14th, 2020) was videotaped and shared on YouTube.

Listen beyond the “WOW!” first impression

When I first listened to it, I was impressed by the virtuosity. Virtuosity on the shakuhachi and also virtuosity of the composition. My attention was especially caught by the Variation aspect, the variations of styles: from Traditional Japanese at the beginning, we go through different “sceneries” where Zac shows his vast musical knowledge: ballad, cartoon, romantic film music, classical flute with cadenza, to mention a few, until the short Japanese style coda like a short memory of the beginning. I called it “Passacaglia of styles”.  Just to put names on influences, because throughout the piece, Zac’s music is just his and inimitable style. Virtuosity is so natural for him that it reaches the harmonic goal: playing chords with a melodic instrument. Don’t get me wrong, such virtuosity means thousands of hours of practicing.

But where was the Haiku?

The YouTube video’s description mentions:

The piece begins with a musical haiku of 5, 7, and 5 notes, and what follows is a series of variations on those motifs.

I listened again and was intrigued enough to contact Zac to ask him whether he would like to send me a few words about his music. Here below is his answer.

Continue reading Zac Zinger’s Haiku in Variation →