Ten Thousand Things
Multicultural Webfinds

"Ten Thousand Things" is a Buddhist expression representing the dynamic interconnection and simultaneous unity and diversity of everything in the universe.

Makihara & Matsumoto, et al. – free Improvisation FROM Philly to Shibuya to Yokohama Park

"Habit is very dangerous. Many musicians get trapped in their habits. They tend to do the same thing over and over, whatever they’re strong at. And I do it too but sometimes I challenge myself. When I’m very comfortable with one thing I sort of stop myself at some point and then try to change it."

–Toshi Makihara

Excerpts from November's collaborations between Philly-based percussionist Toshi Makihara and Tokyo saxophonist Kenichi Matsumoto are online at YouTube now. Their concentrated exploration of instruments, sound, and elbows is ear, eye, mind, and spirit-opening. "duo 071105 part2 of 3" is gorgeous.

"atZAIM204 Toshi Makihara" with Toshi Makihara, Osamu Nomura, and Takashi Itani is a visceral revelation.

Also available at the same site -- Matsumoto's improv with Takashi Itani in Yokohama Park. The ambient sounds of the fountain, sirens, people walking through, and the energies of the Yokohama park at night bring perfect atmospheric accompaniment to their gentle "We love the Fountain" and "The Fountain Never Stops."

Julie Laurie Hammid has an online interview from 2001 with Makihara at redroom.org, the website of The Red Room, an experimental and improv space in Baltimore.

A beautiful person who has a master's in religion --comparative mysticism: Zen & Sufism -- Makihara started playing percussion as a teenager on the bongos. A former student of modern dance and Butoh, he brings dance's body-conscious nuances to his performances, with his awareness of how subtle moves of his body affects percussive sound-making.

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