Alcvin Ryuzen Ramos Shakuhachi Honkyoku Dinner/Concert

Time	Saturday, April 16 · 8:00pm - 11:00pm
Location	Loft in Oakland
Created By	In the Mood for Food, vegan catering and dinner/concerts, Alcvin Ryuzen Ramos
More Info	Saturday, April 16, 2011 8 pm limited seating for 20 $55/person for more information or to make reservations: vegshaku8 at gmail Soup Cauliflower miso chowder with peas salad roasted beets, cara cara oranges, mizuna with orange walnut dressing small plate Potatos stuffed with mashed potatos and greens with mustard and cumin seeds. tamarind chutney entree tempeh in wasabi broth. our renowned freshly made tempeh fried to a crisp served with sauteed seasonal vegetables in a broth made from fresh wasabi roots. rice w/whole oats nukamiso style pickles (daikon, tokyo turnip, long choy sum) Dessert Fried dumplings filled with truffles and brandied dried cranberries. Pistachio-rosewater ice "cream" Performer will be shakuhachi player, Alcvin Ryuzen Ramos visiting us from Vancouver Koten Honkyoku Dinner Alcvin Ryuzen Ramos wil give a performance of shakuhachi koten honkyoku (solo sacred shakuhachi music) Alcvin Ryuzen Ramos Born to Filipino parents in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan in 1969, Ramos moved with his family to the United States, at the age of six. Ramos became interested in Shakuhachi while attending the University of California in Santa Barbara. He returned to Japan and studied Shakuhachi under several teachers including Katsuya Yokoyama, Kaoru Kakizakai, Teruo Furuya, and Atsuya Okuda. Under them he learned the instrument’s varied repertoire, honkyoku (original zen pieces), sankyoku (secular chamber music), and gendai kyoku (new style pieces.) In 2001, he received a shihan (master) license from Katsuya Yokoyama, the head teacher of his school and leading exponent of the instrument, and founder of the International Shakuhachi Training Centre. In 2000, Ramos took the runner up spot in the under 40 all-Japan Shakuhachi Competition in Tokyo. In 2008, in recognition of his skill and spreading Shakuhachi around the world, Alcvin received an honorary Dai Shihan (grand master) license from another one of Japan's greatest players and teachers, Yoshinobu Taniguchi, taking the new name, "Ryuzen" (Dragon Meditation) making him the first Canadian and one of only a handful of non-Japanese to receive this esteemed honor. Ramos also studied the Satsuma biwa (Japanese lute) intensively for a year with Yukio Tanaka to deepen his understanding of Japanese music and aesthetics. He is also a composer and player of a variety of instruments including the shinobue, hichiriki, guqin, and has been experimenting with new ways of playing traditional instruments as well as with synthesized and electronic music. But keeps koten honkyoku the basis for all his music. Ramos now lives in Canada, where he is the director of the Bamboo-In, a Shakuhachi retreat centre on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia. Ramos is a craftsman who produces finely crafted hocchiku flutes (a less refined Shakuhachi). With an intimate knowledge of the koten honkyoku (traditional solo zen-inspired pieces) and the structure of the flute, each of Ramos’ flutes is made especially for honkyoku playing. Ramos believes that honkyoku expresses and utilizes the total spirit-sound of the Shakuhachi. Every few years, Ramos takes students of the Shakuhachi to Japan where they harvest bamboo for making Shakuhachi and visit sacred places around the country in order to deepen their experience of the instrument. Then in the summer, Ramos teaches how to craft hocchiku for honkyoku playing. He believes that making one’s own hocchiku gives the student a more holistic and intimate experience of the instrument.