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SHAKULUTE What People Say About The Shakulute
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"Today the wonderful shakuhachi headjoint arrived at my house. As soon as I came home, I tried to play the shakuhachi flute, and felt very happy to hear good and deep sound. I thought that the low D, Des, and C tune became wider, deeper and stronger than before. Did you adjust some keys of my flute? "Last night I played my new hybrid instrument for three hours till late, and enjoyed many kinds of music; Japanese songs, my own music, and other composers' music. I'm very pleased with the new sound, so I kept playing it for a long time. I'm going to use this headjoint in many kinds of concerts. My dream is expanding now." - Wataru
Kozan Tanifuji Wataru
Kozan Tanifuji is a Grand Master of the Tozan-ryu school
of shakuhachi and has been playing the Western Boehm-style
flute since 1961. Mr. Tanifuji was born in Abashiri, Hokkaido,
Japan in 1945. In 1974, at the age of 29, he began studying
Tozan-ryu shakuhachi under Kozan Takayama and then under
Ginzan Suzuki. In 1991, he achieved the rank of daishihan
or grandmaster and on February 14, 2004 earned the title
of shin-Tozanryu chikurinken, the highest possible level
in the world of shakuhachi. |
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"There are three musical instruments I would like to play for the rest of my life. "One is the flute which, along with the piccolo, I carry everywhere. These instruments are inseparable from me. As a professional flautist, I perform with both symphony orchestras and chamber music ensembles. "The second one is the shakuhachi. Recently, I completed an entry-level course for this instrument. My shakuhachi teacher is my father, Tanifuji Kozan, who I greatly respect as a musician. "The third one is the Shakulute. This is a new musical instrument that is very unique and fun to play. One of my students who had trouble getting a good sound on the transverse silver flute, tried out the Shakulute which helped him achieve a better tone. It is not a far-fetched dream to have a Shakulute ensemble in the near future. This is not only a dream, but a real possibility. "I usually perform with a harpist with whom I have done many concerts. At these concerts we play Japanese songs, Peruvian folk music and jazz standards. I am particularly taken by the deep lower tones produced by the Shakulute. These cannot be played in quite the same way on the silver flute. I find this fascinating and it enables me to perform on this instrument for many hours without becoming tired. Most of all, the excitement of the audience when it first sees, then hears the Shakulute, is gratifying and encourages greatly me as performer. Using this instrument has allowed me to rediscover the joy of performing in a live concert venue. "I am very happy to have these kinds of experiences using the Shakulute and look forward to new possibilities that it offers. I deeply appreciate having the opportunity to perform on this innovate new instrument. "Domo arigato gosaimasu." |
"Monty, "I did get your shakulute headjoint: IT'S FANTASTIC!! "I obviously have to spend sometime with it, but everything you told me about it was true!! What a bold, huge sound! I hope to use it whenever possible, from movie-tracks to solo endeavors, to performing with different artists. This is an extremely versatile, beautiful & practical answer that powerfully contributes to expand our so desperately-needed flute sound/tone 'palette'. I don't know how you did it -- this is not supposed to work, and many people that had tried it before failed! You found out a way of making the octaves-relationship tuning to work all across the range of the instrument. This will definitely become a very prominent asset in my already pretty huge flutes-&-woodwinds 'arsenal'. "Blessings & thanks for an absolutely remarkable piece of work." - Pedro
Eustache
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"Hi Monty-san, "The madaké shakuhachi headjoint made my golden flute acquire a new life. "This is my personal history with bamboo. I bought a gold flute over twenty years ago when I was young and powerful enough to drive it. But about ten years ago I gave up using the heavy instrument because I was losing enough power to hold it transversely for a long time. Since then the gold flute had been wasted on me until the Shakulute appeared. Mr. Tanifuji Kozan showed me first a madaké Shakulute last year and I was fascinated by its magical sounds. I thought it would be, as it were, the good vocal cords for me to sing my favorite Japanese Enka. "The first shakuhachi headjoint you made for me last year was a torachiku one joined to a Yamaha wooden flute. After using this wooden Shakulute for one year, I had an idea to change the gold flute into a madaké Shakulute. It was a good choice. I've acquired louder, more brilliant and warmer sounds than the wooden torachiku Shakulute. Moreover, the madaké headjoint matches the golden flute in color. "I recommend this new instrument to many other flute players for expanding their musical pleasures. Thank you so much for your great invention." Hirotoshi
Umeda |
What People Say About the Shakulute |
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