This pleasant and relaxing album contains beautiful and atmospheric Japanese music with a variety of instruments such as the koto, shakuhachi and shinobue, shamisen, and taiko drums, as well as sung pieces. The Matsu Take Ensemble was founded in 2002 with the aim of making traditional, folk, and classical Japanese music and dances known. Japanese music shows a profound serenity deeply rooted in nature. "Matsu Take" means "pine and bamboo," a tree and a plant of great symbolic significance in Japanese traditions. The Matsu Take Ensemble is comprised of 2 koto players, 2 shakuhachi players, one of whom also sings, a percussionist, as well as a dancer who sings, plays shamisen as well as taiko.