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Three wearing robes perform with shakuhachi bamboo instruments on a stage.

Photos: World Shakuhachi Festival Brings Artists From Around The World To Aggieland

The 2025 World Shakuhachi Festival was a success. For four days in April, hundreds of shakuhachi artists and aficionados traveled from around the world to Aggieland to celebrate the shakuhachi — a traditional end-blown bamboo flute — and its hundreds of years of impact on music and culture in Japan and beyond.

Attendees enjoyed 10 concerts, more than 75 workshops and classes, three open-mic sessions, two competitions and a research symposium. The event was organized by Dr. Martin Regan, professor in the College of Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts.

Here are some photos from the festivities, taken by Justin Kling.

Two men in suits stand on a stage while one addresses the crowd with a microphone. A banner shows the logo of the World Shakuhachi Festival.
Tim McLaughlin, dean of the College of Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts, with Dr. Martin Regan, professor and organizer of the 2025 World Shakuhachi Festival, at the opening night concert at Rudder Theatre. Photo by Justin Kling.
A shakuhachi player uses the bamboo flute to point to something projected on a screen behind him.
Photo by Justin Kling
A man holding a microphone in his left hand and a shakuhachi bamboo flute in his right sings on stage, with other performers behind him.
Photo by Justin Kling
An artist in a cowboy hat performs on the shakuhachi bamboo flute.
Photo by Justin Kling
Five musicians, four of them standing, play shakuhachi music in a concert setting.
Photo by Justin Kling
A crowded room of people looking at and holding shakuhachi bamboo instruments.
Photo by Justin Kling
An artist using a Japanese string instrument performs.
Photo by Justin Kling
A music professor leads a group of singers in a performance, alongside an artist playing the shakuhachi.
Photo by Justin Kling
An artist performs with a shakuhachi bamboo flute in a nighttime concert on a porch structure.
Photo by Justin Kling

Article written by

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Jacob Svetz

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