AUSTRALIA’S SHAKUHACHI GRAND MASTER – TAASA Review December 2011

Riley Lee TAASA is not the only entity celebrating an anniversary.

Twenty-five years ago, in 1986, my family generously agreed to leave our home and friends in Hawai’i, so that I could pursue a PhD degree at Sydney University. I gave my first shakuhachi concert in Sydney in the spring of that year.

To my amazement, it was attended by a full house, and the respected music critic, the late Fred Blanks, favourably reviewed the concert, in the Sydney Morning Herald no less! My career as a shakuhachi performer and teacher, and shakuhachi music in general, has thrived in Australia since that auspicious beginning...