JOHN KAIZAN NEPTUNE
Words Can't Go There
(p) 1992 Oasis Productions
10tks/70mins

I need to confess, that when I was thinking how can I describe the album of John Kaizan Neptune, I had some problems. Indeed, what words can trustworthy characterize a real meditative music, the very music behind which is silence? But this CD is of this kind. "Words Can't Go There" is rather an album-meditation.

The musician plays shakuhachi, which is a kind of traditional Japanese flute. There is a system of classification of these flutes, which differ by their size (the length of shakuhachi changes in a strictly determined sequence). Each one of these flutes has unique timbre.

John plays an instrument, which was made by his own hands. Moreover, the manner of playing of this artist is very original. Sometimes his instrument produces roaring-flowing sounds (composition "Nesting Life of the Cranes"), and sometimes - shimmering rustle of falling leaves (composition "Falling Leaves"), and sometimes - a little bit sobbing plaintive whisper, intermitting with trumpeting roar (composition "Distant Cry of the Deer"). Sometimes John's shakuhachi produces something inconceivable. With this sound of his flute is characterized by an amazing purity, and it can be even said, by some nakedness. This is connected by the fact, that the album was recorded in John's house. His previous album the musician has recorded in the best studios of the world ( of course, Japanese ones!), which are equipped with the most advanced technique, - Toshiba EMI, Nippon Columbia? Victor (JVC). As John writes himself, he "got spoiled" having got used to the most strict standards of recording. That is why the musician has built a house in Japanese province of Kamogawa according to his own project. It is enough to say, that in this house are 9-meters ceilings, very thick walls for achievement of a good ratio signal / noise and special noise-absorption curtains. All the music was recorded in the deep night (between eleven-thirty at night and four-thirty in the morning). The musician had only opened the windows, so that the singing of crickets added a special aroma to his music. So, this album contains only a small part of this night five-hours meditation. The flutist has performed both traditional Japanese melodies and his own compositions.

A discovery for me was not only the music by John Kaizan Neptune, but also the company which released his album. This is a Canadian label "Oasis Productions". To the album was added a catalogue by this company, which specializes in meditation music. Just the names of albums can tell us a lot: "Tibetan Sacred Temple Music", "Zen Spirit", "Bardo" and so on. By the way, according to the Tibetan religion, the word "Bardo" describes the state in which is a soul after death until the next reincarnation.

Moreover, the music by John Kaizan Neptune may be characterized as calming, floating and charming. But I understand how poor are these words! They are only a pale and faded shadow of the music which presents us the flutist. Those, who have heard such musicians as Hariprasad ?haurasia or, for example, Djivan Gasparyan can imagine what is the album "Words Can't Go There". For those, who did not hear this music, I can only cite the following lines by Japanese poet Esano Tekkan, to characterize the work of John Kaizan Neptune:

In the evening distance
A flute is longing,
Sighs the wind,
Near wine shop
It swings a willow.

Serge Kozlovsky