These guys (several different unrelated artists!) were doing
outrageous things. They'd do overblowing stuff creating great chuffs of
noise, imitating deer. They'd be playing notes, and would lean
ruthlessly on the note, making it a freaking quarter-tone sharp, or just
explore all microtonally, with no fear at all of breaking equal
temperament, and it worked, it really worked. Just monophonic bamboo
flute notes, but the freedom was infinite.

Different styles of music require different treatment... and many styles use
different non-Western scales as their basis.

There is such a thing as flat and sharp in certain contexts, and it is
welcome in some, but not all, cases.

Shakuhachi performances do not entail the same pitch requirements as, say,
the Vienna Boys Choir. It can't be used as a basis for everything.

-S