The Aeolian Trio Concert

The Aeolian Trio Concert
Saturday, September 14, 2024
2pm to 3:30pm
Van Cortlandt House Museum Lawn

Van Cortlandt Park Alliance presents The Aeolian Trio as part of their 3-week US tour.
Original compositions for shakuhachi flute, acoustic guitar, and Uduboo drum, an African Ud made from bamboo.

The shakuhachi, a Japanese traditional bamboo flute that is rooted in Zen Buddhism, meets the guitar, a Spanish folk instrument that became a giant of jazz, rock, and pop. In ancient times, the shakuhachi was carried from the Middle East to Japan on the fabled Silk Road. Meanwhile, the guitar springs from flamenco and Renaissance traditions, and has antecedents in the Middle Eastern Oud. These seemingly disparate traditions separated by two continents spring from the same cradle of civilization.

Now, centuries later, in California, Tokyo, and New York, Japanese guitarist Kôfû Suwa and shakuhachi master Bruce Huebner join New York-based percussionist Todd Isler to reunite these ancient traditions and bring them into the 21st century. In their concert, we hear how the melisma and phrygian Spanish mode is answered by the nuances of the Japanese miyako mode of the Zen bamboo flute, and how the rich rhythmic traditions of South and Central Asia underpin the fusion.

RSVP Suggested.