Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

madoherty · 2009-01-11 13:39:30

I am a librarian/archivist by trade. My research interests lay in the realm of the epistemological components of non-written expressions / informants of cultural heritage (art, performance, music, architecture, etc.). Part and parcel of this investigation has been the realization of the transitory nature of non-written sources of cultural information, shakuhachi music, is one of these.

Recently a friend turned me on to the idea of studying digital preservation. As it stands, digital resources seem to be the best mode of preserving information in general, and for the long term digital files might be the best mode for preserving music, oral history, and possibly also images. So, I have decided to investigate further the possibility of creating a digital archive/library for shakuhachi (though the scope might end up being much wider than shakuhachi), that would be accessible, at least in part, on the World Wide Web.

My appeal to the shakuhachi community is to tell me what you would like to see in an online archive devoted to shakuhachi. What would you like to see as content (sound files, interviews, images, library of Hanko, text, etc.). How would you like to access the information? How would you like it to be represented? What other types of things might be important to include? What concerns do you have about such an archive?

In order for such an archive to be possible, and successful, it would need the support of the shakuhachi community in general. So if you could give me your ideas, today, or in the future, I would appreciate it. In addition, if you are interested in helping, either with your time, monetarily, or through donations of recordings, images, etc. Please do not hesitate to email me. The creation of the archive will take a lot of resources (creation of a non-profit to support it, technology required to capture and preserve digital files, etc.) but I believe it to be a good goal to work toward for the preservation of shakuhachi.

So let those email fly.

Best wishes,
Michael Andrew Doherty, MLIS and shakuhachi player

Last edited by madoherty (2009-01-11 13:44:48)

Tairaku 太楽 · 2009-01-11 16:20:45

Thanks Michael,

I'm sure everybody would welcome this initiative. First thing you should do is contact Ron at www.komuso.com because he already has a huge digital archive and you might want to confer so that you're not duplicating the same work.

Ciao,

BR

Kerry · 2009-01-11 21:44:52

madoherty wrote:
So, I have decided to investigate further the possibility of creating a digital archive/library for shakuhachi (though the scope might end up being much wider than shakuhachi), that would be accessible, at least in part, on the World Wide Web.

Also, a StoryCorps approach/application would be something to consider, but of course, blowing is the best preservation

madoherty · 2009-01-11 23:15:07

Tairaku wrote:
Thanks Michael,

I'm sure everybody would welcome this initiative. First thing you should do is contact Ron at www.komuso.com because he already has a huge digital archive and you might want to confer so that you're not duplicating the same work.

Ciao,

BR

Thanks Brian. I will contact him as things progress/digress. I think that our aims are different, though I do not know if he has something else cooking. I see Komuso.com as a kind of index and encyclopedia of sorts- a great information source for sure. What I will be trying to put together is a record of shakuhachi for preservation purposes for the long term (hopefully)(for example, it would be nice to have some record of those Edo players today, so we do not want to lose what we have access to today), and for educational purposes via the WWW today (well maybe a couple of years from now when it is done). I imagine field recordings of masters, oral histories etc. What komuso.com does with breadth, I would do with depth. I imagine a searchable database, much like an academic database, or library catalog, with like cataloging and finding aids, developed into collections with definite scope. One realistic scope might be shakuhachi in North America, or something like that... or a certain school of shakuhachi in North America, the United States, etc.

-Michael

madoherty · 2009-01-11 23:20:03

Kerry wrote:
madoherty wrote:
So, I have decided to investigate further the possibility of creating a digital archive/library for shakuhachi (though the scope might end up being much wider than shakuhachi), that would be accessible, at least in part, on the World Wide Web.
Also, a StoryCorps approach/application would be something to consider, but of course, blowing is the best preservation

Hi Kerry,

I thought of you and your show when I was thinking about this project, and I do like the StoryCorps idea and practices. I am not certain how it might apply to what I have in mind, but I will keep it lodged in my head as things settle.

Thank you,

Michael

Kerry · 2009-01-12 08:24:03

Michael,

The show has been interesting in that the response has been very good. I've made flutes for two people. Radio Free Nashville is going to move from 98.9 to 93.3 soon and that will open it up to covering all of the Nashville listening area instead of the small corner of the county now. Have you thought of enhancing the collection in your library system with shakuhachi materials? A sponsored performance would be great, wouldn't it? I'm a lowly Circ 2 in the Nashville Public Library but I've put the idea out there of adding more music and books into the system, but things move slowly in the library world, I'm sure you can relate Thanks, Kerry

madoherty · 2009-01-12 12:21:33

Kerry, Great news about Samurai Songs. Indeed, library-land is slow. Our library's budget is very small, and although I am in charge of the collection development for music, I have not purchased very much shakuhachi music because the collection is deficient in so many more areas at the same time. I have had it in my mind to organize a performance at our library, we will have to see if I have the nerve to actually do it. -Michael

Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

#1 2009-01-11 13:39:30

Online Digital Library/Archive of Shakuhachi

#2 2009-01-11 16:20:45

Re: Online Digital Library/Archive of Shakuhachi

#3 2009-01-11 21:44:52

Re: Online Digital Library/Archive of Shakuhachi

madoherty wrote:

#4 2009-01-11 23:15:07

Re: Online Digital Library/Archive of Shakuhachi

Tairaku wrote:

#5 2009-01-11 23:20:03

Re: Online Digital Library/Archive of Shakuhachi

Kerry wrote:

madoherty wrote:

#6 2009-01-12 08:24:03

Re: Online Digital Library/Archive of Shakuhachi

#7 2009-01-12 12:21:33

Re: Online Digital Library/Archive of Shakuhachi

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