Water Music: Shakuhachi
Twelve remarkable shakuhachi improvisations, recorded in a water-storage reservoir that serves inner Sydney.
The Centennial Park Reservoir was opened for the first time in its hundred years for repairs, revealing a cathedral-like space ideal for recording. Heavy rain fell beforehand, and the continuous drip of water remains a feature of the sound.
These twelve improvisations were recorded on 31 May 1992, with that residual drip woven into the music.
Reviews
I first heard this recording during a massage. I had heard many new age selections from whales to birds to annoyingly too long tracks of ocean breakers, and this one was deliverance to a quietude that none of the others had come close to. If you really want a recording to wring the anxiety out of your life, this is the one.
soothing, meditative escape, a peaceful respite
Artist
Riley Lee
Riley Lee plays the shakuhachi as living breath: honkyoku meditation pieces that float, pulse and yearn, and studio improvisations that turn bamboo into slow landscapes of repose.
Tracks
- Temple Garden Riley Lee 2:20
- Song of the White Witch Riley Lee 6:05
- White Heron Riley Lee 3:01
- Outpouring Riley Lee 3:41
- Reflection Riley Lee 6:53
- Song Riley Lee 3:50
- Ocean Moonbeam Riley Lee 1:51
- One Hundred Streams Riley Lee 4:15
- Rain on the Misty Ocean Riley Lee 5:54
- A Cricket Grieves Riley Lee 5:46
- Cherry Blossom Riley Lee 2:49
- Broken Moon Riley Lee 3:27
Performers
- Riley Lee · shakuhachi
Contributors
Photography
Belinda Webster
Belinda Webster is the founder of Tall Poppies Records and a leading Australian producer and recording engineer whose work has documented classical, contemporary and jazz performance across decades of catalogue releases.
Cover Art
Tony Smibert
Where to listen
Water Music: Shakuhachi is available for streaming through Apple Music. It can also be purchased through the iTunes Music Store.
Water Music: Shakuhachi is available as a CD. It can be purchased online through Buywell Music or the Australian Music Centre which both offer online ordering.
Product details
- Catalogue number
- TP033
- Total playing time
- 49 minutes 52 seconds
- Producer
- Belinda Webster
Riley Lee - Recording Engineer
- Belinda Webster
Tony Lewis - Venue
- Centennial Park Reservoir, Sydney
- Thanks to
- Dr Martin Wesley-Smith
Sydney Water - Credit
- Belinda Webster
Tony Smibert - Release date
- 6 May 1995
- Label
- Tall Poppies
- Musical work
copyright - © 1995 Tall Poppies Records
- Sound recording
copyright - ℗ 1995 Tall Poppies Records
- Categories
- Improvisation, Other Lands
- Genres
- World & Cross-cultural, Jazz & Improvised
- Barcode
- EAN 9399000003328
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