Was thinking it would be cool to have a thread for explanations and discussion of collaborations here on weeklybeats. I participated in my first collaboration this week with Spry. We thought since it is so early to keep it simple, and used the theme of a zen koan that I selected randomly (spry's idea was to interpret some form of mystical or occult tradition which started this collab).

The title for both our pieces is "One Note of Zen". Here is the zen koan these pieces are based on:

"After Kakua visited the emperor he disappeared and no one knew what became of him. He was the first Japanese to study Zen in China, but since he showed nothing of it, save one note, he is not remembered for having brought Zen into his country.

Kakua visited China and accepted the true teaching. He did not travel while he was there. Meditating constantly, he lived on a remote part of a mountain. Whenever people found him and asked him to preach he would say a few words and then move to another part of the mountain where he could be found less easily.
The emperor heard about Kakua when he returned to Japan and asked him to preach Zen for his edification and that of his subjects.

Kakua stood before the emperor in silence. He then produced a flute from the folds of his robe, and blew one short note. Bowing politely, he disappeared."

Excited to hear about any other collaborations, and to hear spry's interpretation. I felt my piece (this is probably a bit of stretch) is a soundtrack for this story. The beginning is the one note of zen, the middle is the ambiance of the remote area and the meditation, isolation, etc. The end is the aftermath of the return and the disappearance.