American born Riley Lee made what he thought would be a three-month visit to Japan in 1971. He was introduced to the shakuhachi, and his visit became an initial, intensive 7-year study of the instrument as well as taiko (festival drums). He and his wife Patricia founded the Australian Shakuhachi Society in the early 1990s and he co-founded the premier Australian taiko group TaikOz in 1997.

He was honored in 1980 as the first non-Japanese dai shihan in the shakuhachi tradition, making him part of a lineage of masters from the original komusô priests of Edo, Japan.

Riley has a PhD in musicology from the university of Sydney, and has lectured at numerous Australian and American universities including Harvard. He performs and teaches extensively in Australia, Europe, Asia, and North America.

Riley, his wife Patricia and their twin daughters moved to Australia in 1986. They are now Australian citizens. Since 2000, he and Patricia, his partner/manager, have lived in Manly, overlooking Sydney Harbour and the Pacific Ocean.

www.rileylee.net