OVX007: Shido Izukawa / Vexations Vol.7

What Shido says about his proposal:

"At this point in my life as a musician, this recording has become the one I least want people to hear and the one I most want them to hear.

What does it mean for me and my shakuhachi to play this piece skilfully while looking at the staff notation? This was the most important theme for me this time.
The original plan was to record all the takes in the studio, but after the second take it became difficult to continue playing and the recording had to be stopped. As a result, subsequent recordings were made in the middle of the night in the mountain forest, and I had to try again after a gap of time. The shakuhachi I practice is Zen music, and my shakuhachi is made of 100% natural materials. Perhaps my naturalness as a performer clashed with this work, and I could no longer perform in a highly artificial studio.

In this challenge to create Vexations, while maintaining a level that can be listened to as a musical work, I also positively incorporated the cultural conflicts, happenings, and communication that I encountered during this recording as important elements of the music. I have come to want to preserve the series of events as a story as much as possible.
In other words, I wanted to enjoy with everyone the fact that the contrived complication of Western music called Vexations clashed violently with the identity of the shakuhachi, a traditional Japanese instrument, and exposed an aspect of the essence of culture, as one of the real pleasures of music. (I had a lot of trouble with the incompatibility of the music and the instruments, and once I almost gave up halfway through due to unexpected problems, but Mr. Iwata helped me out and I was able to finish the recording.)
I also don't know if Satie intended it to go that far, but if he saw a traditional instrumentalist from a far eastern island country struggling to play this piece 100 years after the piece was written, I'm sure he would at least think, "I've got it". I hope that those who listen to this recording will be able to experience the atmospheric sound of the shakuhachi, as well as the bittersweet cultural conflicts, and It would be a great reward for me and the shakuhachi if the listeners could enjoy it as a well-crafted musical composition by Satie.
I am truly grateful for being able to receive this kind of opportunity.
Best Regards, Shido IZUKAWA"

Work process:

1. First of all, I tried to record only the theme 40 times in the studio, but after a few blasts, the instrument started to hate it, and the recording became impossible to continue.

2. Since it became impossible to continue recording in the studio, I tried to record outdoors in the mountains late at night and managed to record the theme 37 times.

3. Although, I felt that I had reached my limit at this point and decided that it would be difficult to record the entire piece 40 times and asked to abandon the recording, I received encouragement and advice from

Mr. Iwata and tried to record additional parts other than the theme, aiming to complete 40 times and record this story by editing.

4. After a gap of about two months, I tried again to record in the studio, and succeeded in recording the missing parts, although the performance was less like the original shakuhachi. (Incidentally, the two months gap was due to the lockdown caused by COVID-19 and unexpected construction work at the university studio.)

5. The first priority is to preserve the original sound of the recording as much as possible, and to assemble it in Protools as specified in the score.

*As for the placement work on the DAW, it should be done only once in a row, so to keep the “one-time experienceness” as a shakuhachi player. I did not make any changes afterwards.

THEME

1st, 39th, 40th: 1st studio recording
2nd to 38th: outdoor recording
Other parts 2nd studio recording
Equipment used:

1st studio recording: Neumann U89i, ZOOM H4n
2nd studio recording: SONY C48, ZOOM H4n
Editing: Protools, Reverb is used for THEME only.

SHIDO Izukawa is a Composer, Shakuhachi (Japanese Bamboo Flute) player, PhD in fine art. He graduated from the Osaka University of Arts in music, then studied composition, ethnomusicology and electro-acoustic music at Osaka University of Arts graduate school. He is a member of the Society of Research in Asiatic Music, Information Processing Society of Japan, and Japanese Society for Electronic Music. He is a Junior Associate Professor at the Osaka University of Arts.

Izukawa plays in the style of "Suizen (It means that he enters the world of Zen by blowing shakuhachi)," which is a way of Zen meditation for Myoan Taizan School shakuhachi, and the

sound of Jinashi Shakuhachi called "Neaji (Taste of Sound)." He has taken professional western music education since he was a child, and he has established his own creative policy just as he sought for the unique spirit within Japanese traditional music. He has worked on sound producing which crosses genres. He has put his effort in the development of electro acoustic music.

《メッセージ》
“今回の収録は、現時点、私の音楽家人生において、最も聴かせたくない録音となり、最も聴い
て欲しい録音となった”

　「この曲を五線譜を見ながら上手に演奏することが私と尺八にとってどういう意味を持つか」、これが今回、一番重要となったテーマである。

　当初は全てのテイクをスタジオでレコーディングする予定でいたが、2回目のテイクから演奏を続けることが難しくなりレコーディングを中止せざるを得なくなった。そのため、その後のレコーディングは、真夜中の山の森の中で収録したり、時間を空けて再挑戦することとなった。私が修行している尺八は禅ミュージックであり、私の尺八は100%自然の素材でできている。もしかすると、私が演奏家として自然であることと、この作品が衝突し、さらには高度な人工物であるスタジオの中での演奏ができなくなったのかもしれない。
　また今回、ヴェクサシオンに挑戦する中で、美しい音楽は他の方が存分に聴かせてくれるであろうから、私は音楽作品として聴くに耐え得るレベルは維持しながらも、今回の収録の中で遭遇した文化的葛藤やハプニング、コミュニケーションなども音楽の重要な要素として肯定的に取り入れ、一連の出来事をなるべくありのままストーリーとして残したいと思うようになった。つまり、ヴェクサシオンという西洋音楽の策略的こじれが、日本伝統楽器である尺八のアイデ
ンティティと激しく衝突し、文化の本質の一面をむき出しにしたことを、音楽の一つの醍醐味として皆で楽しみたい思ったのだ。（私は曲と楽器のあまりの相性の悪さにひたすら苦労の連続だったし、想定外のトラブルが起こり一度途中で断念しかけたところを、岩田氏が助け舟を出してくれたから、なんとか収録を終えることができたのだ）
　また、そこまでサティがそこまで意図したかどうかはわからないが、１００年後に遥か東の島国の伝統楽器奏者が、この曲を演奏するのに四苦八苦している様子を見たら、少なくとも、まさに「してやったり」と思うに違いないし、この収録を聴いてくれる人には、尺八の趣深い音味を味わってもらうとともに、ほろ苦い文化的葛藤も一緒に感じてもらい、サティによる巧みに仕組まれたミュージッキングとして楽しんでもらえたら、私と尺八は報われるのだ。

《作業プロセス》
・まずスタジオでテーマのみを40回収録しようとしたが、数回吹いたら楽器が嫌がりだし、収録が続けられなくなる。
・スタジオでは収録続行不可になったため、深夜の山奥にて野外録音を試み、なんとかテーマを３７回分収録する。
・ただしここまでで限界を感じ、一曲通して４０回収録を行うことは難しいと判断して収録断念を申し入れるが、岩田氏から励ましとアドバイスを受け、テーマ以外の部分の追加収録に挑戦して、編集によって４０回分の完成とこの物語を記録することを目指す
・2ヶ月ほど空けて再度スタジオ収録に挑戦、本来の尺八らしさを抑えた演奏にはなったが足りない部分の録音に成功する。（ちなみに2ヶ月空いたのはCOVID-19によるロックダウンの影響と大学スタジオに想定外の工事が入ったこともある）
・揃った録音データを、なるべく録音時そのままの音で残すことを第一として、Protools上で楽譜の指定通りに組み上げる。

＊DAW上で配置作業に関しては、通しで一度きりにすることで、尺八奏者としての一回性を持たせ、後から手を加えることはしていない。