https://slippedisc.com/2023/03/vienna-phils-ss-man-is-still-honoured-back-home/ And still be loved as a trumpet player. Streets named after him, Leonard Bernstein worked with him, yadda yadda.
So Chris Broad, being a Christian Nationalist, essentially the modern equivalent of the SS, is fine and dandy too.
A big difference being, though, that trumpet is an instrument that's popular enough that tons of people play it and surely come from a wide political spectrum.
The shakuhachi is a real "niche" instrument, even in Japan. Enough so that especially in the English-speaking world, one person can become the "face" or representative of the instrument. And loathsome politics aside, Mr. Broad is head and shoulders above the rest to be that one person.
Shakuhachi is probably the most gate-kept instrument on the planet, and I think it would be impossible to be really serious about it without in effect, working hand-in-hand with Chris Broad. His recordings of the lovely little "minyo" or children's/folk songs are both exhaustive and as far as I can tell, the only source for them to the student.
With unlimited financial resources I could simply move to Japan, spend half my time learning the language and half my time the shakuhachi, dealing strictly in Japanese from a Japanese master (avoiding the two that gave Chris Broad his rankings) and in that way avoid working in any way with a Christian Nationalist. But I don't have those resources.
So the only real answer is: Avoid! Avoid! I don't want anyone assuming that because I play Instrument X, I'm a devotee of far-right politics. There's probably a lot of overlap between younger, say below 40 years of age, shakuhachi players and "weaboos" who pine to live in Japan because they think it's a paradise due to being racially homogeneous. They never seem to ponder that Japan being racially homogeneous means the Japanese probably don't want *them* in their country either.
No comments:
Post a Comment