JIM FRANKLIN (James Ashley Franklin) studied shakuhachi in Australia witH Riley Lee. In 1996, and after prior visits to Japan, Jim received a scholarship which allowed him to study with Katsuya Yokoyama and his senior students in the Kokusai Shakuhachi Kenshukan, including Teruo Furuya. In December 1996 Jim received his 'shihan'-licence from Yokoyama-sensei. Concurrent with his shakuhachi studies, Jim has continued his activities as a composer, with commissioned works and performances in various countries, including intermedia works with visual artists. In 1998 he was awarded the degree of PhD from Sydney University for his compositional and theoretical work focussing on shakuhachi. He now divides his time between Australia, where he works as a university lecturer in music as well as composer and shakuhachi performer, and Europe. He performs and teaches shakuhachi on both continents.

S-F4a. WATER SPIRITS [I] CD $18.50
Two extended improvisations for koto or bass koto and shakuhachi, and two composed tracks, for koto and synthesizer, and shakuhachi and synthesizer/sampler. On all tracks, Jim Franklin plays shakuhachi, and Satsuki Odamura plays koto. All tracks draw on the traditions and techniques of the shakuahchi and koto, and two extended improvisations, while not specifically traditional, place themselves in the long tradition of music for shakuhachi and koto.

S-F4b. BUTSUGA [I] CD $18.50
A collection of traditional pieces (honkyoku) and improvisations for shakuhachi, recorded in the course of a single day on location in a large Japanese garden located in a town (Cowra) in western New South Wales, Australia. The garden was a goodwill gift to the town at the site of an internment camp for Japanese during World War 2, and is now a place of peace and friendship. The recordings document the changing atmospheres of the garden from dawn to dusk.

S-F4c. MOON ROAD TO DAWN [I] CD $18.50
Improvisations and compositions for shakuhachi together with a range of Chinese and western instruments: guqin, ruan, clarinet and saxophone (played by Tony Wheeler). These pieces explore the meeting points between diverse cultures and musics: lookign beyond the differences, the Chinese and western instruments encounter and blend with shakuhachi through imitation, allowing for a sense of unity within contrast.

S-F4d. ABUNDANCE [I] CD $18.50
Compositions and improvisations by Jim Franklin (shakuhachi and koto) and Michael Atherton (guitar, Egyptian harp, percussion, didjeridu). The pieces on this album are intended as a journey through different landscapes, from mountains, to gardens, to deserts, expressed in diverse styles and combinations of instruments. They are an attempt to capture and express something of the wonder and richness within which we live.

S-F4e. HEARING STILLNESS/DIE STILLE HOEREN [I] CD $19.50
All the pieces on this album are honkyoku, mostly from the lineage of Katsuya Yokoyama. The recordings were made in the wonderful acoustic spaces of two large monastery churches in southern Germany in 2001, and appear here unfalsified and without editing. The atmosphere of the pieces is in deep harmony with the religious spaces in which they were recorded.