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Trio Getsuro: Music from Innisfree. Produced by Trio Getsuro and Frances White, CD Baby (Hermit Music), 2022. One CD (1 hour, 1 minute) with liner notes. (CD) $25.98; (online streaming) $9.99, https://triogetsuro.hearnow.com/.
Over the past eight years, the late Minegishi Issui, the fourth hereditary heir to the Seikyodö ichigenkin (Japanese one-string plucked zither), and shakuhachi players Ralph Samuelson and Elizabeth Brown created a singular repertoire of traditional and contemporary works for their ensemble Trio Getsuro ... Getsuro ("dewdrops reflecting the light of the moon") explores the underlying sonic philosophy of both instruments, "the discovery of the world that lies within one note, one sound," and draws from Zen Buddhist aesthetics (liner notes). Their debut album, Music from Innisfree, showcases contemporary music and trio arrangements of traditional works for this rare instrumental combination. Samuelson and Brown are well-known performers of the shakuhachi both trained in the Kinko-ryù tradition. Minegishi Issui was a pioneering performer-composer whose trailblazing work included interdisciplinary collaborations with Butoh dancers and Khmer musicians, with whom she released five CDs, and who received two grants from the Asian Cultural Council.1 Despite her accolades, however, and because of the esoteric nature of her instrument, her work is not well known, even in Japan. Music from Innisfree is named after one of the ensemble 's last concerts at the Innisfree Garden in Millbrook, New York, and is one of three CDs released by the late Minegishi prior to her death in May 2023. These final albums showcase her incredible musicality and virtuosity in one of Japan's most unique instrumental traditions.
The ichigenkin is an obscure single-string koto usually made of paulownia or cedar. The string is typically made of silk and is manipulated by two plectra made of ivory or bamboo. The tubular plectrum on the right thumb plucks the string while the second, worn on the player's left middle finger, alters the pitch similar to a lap steel guitar. The Seikyodö style "follows the idea of Zen practice, which removes all unnecessary vanities" (liner notes). This playing style makes it a natural partner to the shakuhachi, also steeped in Zen Buddhist ideals. According to Minegishi's great-great-grandfather Tokuhiro Taimu, the founder of Seikyodö ichigenkin,
Ichigenkin cultivates a noble character and...