Wild Ways (2007)

WILD WAYS

1. CRAZY CLOUD

Kyoh Un!

A Crazy Cloud, out in the open,
Blown about madly, as wild as they come!
Who knows where this cloud will go, where
          the wind will still?
The sun rises from the eastern sea, and shines
          over the land.

Forests and fields, rocks and weeds – my true
          companions.
The wild ways of the Crazy Cloud will never
          change.
People think I’m mad but I don’t care:
If I’m a demon here on earth, there is no need
          to fear the hereafter.

 

2. LOVE SONG

Nennen korori yo okorori yo,
Bōya wa yoi ko da nenne shi na.

Crimson cheeks, light-colored hair, full of
          compassion and love.
Lost in a dream of love play, I contemplate her
          beauty.
Her thousand eyes of great mercy look upon
          all but see no one beyond redemption.
This goddess can even be a fisherman’s wife by
          a river or sea, singing of salvation.

When we parted, it broke my heart;
Her powdered cheeks were more beautiful
          than spring flowers.
My lovely miss is now with another,
Singing the same love song but to a different tune.

 

3. AUTUMN NIGHT

Tsu ta pon tsu-ta tsu po-po-pon etc.,
Chin chin chin chi-chi chin rin etc.
Hi hi hi hya ri ya ri hi, o hya to hya ri ya ri etc.

No moon on the best night for moon viewing;
I sit alone near the iron candle stand and
          quietly chant old tunes –
The best poets have loved these evenings
But I just listen to the sound of the rain and
          recall the emotions of past years.

A Melancholy autumn wind
Blows through the world:
The pampas grass waves,
As we drift to the moor,
Drift to the sea.

A wonderful autumn night, fresh and bright;
Over the echo of music and drums from a
          distant village
The single clear tone of a shakuhachi brings a
          flood of tears –
Startling me from a deep, melancholy dream.

Ikkyū Sōyun (1394–1491)
Translation: John Stevenson

In 2005, ji-nashi shakuhachi player Kiku Day approached me to write a piece for her, as part of her mission to increase the use of the shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute) in Western classical music. When she played to me, its warmth and huskiness seemed so spookily like a human voice that I decided an a cappella double choir setting of words would best complement it. We found a choir – the Nonsuch Singers – brave enough to enter into this project and Kiku found me the wild and wonderful poems of Ikkyū Sōyun, a 15th Century Zen master whose timeless words cover the entire gamut of human emotion and are beautifully translated by John Stevenson. The poems are often very short, so each movement is a compilation of two or three of them.

1. Crazy Cloud was a name that Ikkyū gave himself when in 1428 he finished his Zen training and went his own “wild way”. The movement starts with a boisterous “Noh Theatre”-style acclamation of his nickname in Japanese and the music is “Blown about madly” by shakuhachi and voices alike.

For 2. Love Song, I have used a beautiful and poignant Japanese lullaby called “Edo Komoriuta” (meaning “Lullaby from Edo”, the old name for Tokyo) as a backdrop to two of Ikkyū’s highly romantic and sensual poems. The lullaby is sung in Japanese and the words depict the loss of a little boy’s beloved nursemaid who has gone back to her home. This chimes with how Ikkyū feels at the loss of his true love to another man. 

3. Autumn Night brings together three of the many poems that Ikkyū wrote which mention this season. During my research into Japanese traditional music I was introduced to mnemonics – a form of aural transmission of music through the natural pitch patterns of various vowel and consonant sounds. These “words” don’t actually mean anything but if you try saying the percussion line, Tsu ta pon tsu-ta tsu po-po-pon etc., you will see how the sounds automatically come out as a rough pitch and rhythmic pattern. These are mnemonics taken from a Kabuki dance called “Goro Tokimune”. The process is reversed as in the middle verse when the shakuhachi provides the melody whilst the choir recites the words.

There are many people without whom this piece would not exist. I would like to thank Keith Howard for pointing Kiku into my direction, Kiku for bringing me into the wonderful and extraordinary world of the shakuhachi and to David Hughes for his patient teaching of the elements of Japanese traditional music. Thanks also go to Graham Caldbeck and the Nonsuch Singers who have worked incredibly hard to get this project off the ground. We owe a huge debt of gratitude also to both the Sasakawa and PRS Foundations for their financial support of the commission.

Roxanna Panufnik