Winter Music for the Soul

As the days get shorter and colder and the holidays approach, it’s the perfect time for some soothing music like this offering from Duo En, a Seattle-based shakuhachi and koto duo. We featured half of the duo — the koto half to be precise — in our story on Elizabeth Falconer earlier this year. The CD Winter Cranes makes a great gift for people interested in Japanese music but not quite sure where to start because, while the album has some classic Japanese music on it, it also has unique renditions of Western staples such as “Silent Night,” “Greensleeves” and “White Christmas.”