Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

I attended an intimate concert last night in a small club in Kumamoto, Japan performed by a very talented trio of shakuhachi players that go by the name of Han'nya Teikoku.  They are Hiromu Motonage, Akihisa Kominato and Takuya Iwata.
I was given a ticket by chance with no expectations and was pleasantly surprised.
The hour and a half performance was full of highly energetic, well-coordinated, technique-filled music that was largely original and appears on their first CD release 'A Perfect Crime' (Empire records).
The most remarkable thing was the virtuosity of the trio. 
Motonaga, the leader of the group,  was mostly responsible for holding the lower sonic end of the performance playing cho kan for every piece but one with power and grace.
Kominato, born to a musical family in 1978, studied under Yamaguchi Goro and graduated from the Department of Musicology at Tokyo University of Arts as a shakuhachi major.  His visceral style of playing, and ability to seamlessly jump from a 1.6 to a 2.6, stopping by at two or three intermediate sizes along the way made for not only a sonic, but visual treat.
Iwata, the youngest of the trio born in 1980, also graduated from the Department of Musicology at Tokyo University of Arts as a shakuhachi major and studied under Yamamoto Hozan.  He was awarded first place in the all Japan, Ministry of Education Hogaku Competition four years ago.  His highly frenetic style of playing, and intense focus on sound quality sparked the air with electricity.
As mentioned, most of the pieces played were original and exhibited an exciting interplay of modalities and counterpoint with rhythmic lines effortlessly traded between the three.  In two pieces, an exhibit of foot stomping was traded between the three amidst blistering melodic lines that often danced enviously high in the third octave, then plunged into funky low end mechanisms to become the backdrop for often inspirational improvising.
As for the CD 'A Perfect Crime', the electricity is lost in the translation to disk.  Some of the pitfalls of modern shakuhachi recording were evident on this CD:  too much reverb distancing the performance which tends to reduce the all important intimacy of their live performance, rolled-off high ends that were no doubt done to reduce breath sound and create that 'crystalline, flute-like sound' that so many modern players like, and much less than close mic-ing that tended to serve the previous purpose, but at the expense of energy.
All in all, though a testament to their incredible ability, these guys definitely shine as a live act.
Though in the midst of an all Japan tour, I was told by Motonaga that they will be doing a series of concerts in New York this spring.  For those of you in that part of the world, keep an eye open for them. They're worth the look and listen.