altsoundings

June 2006 … The Wave presented by The Boite – Koto & Shakuhachi

With Izumi Fujikawa on 13 & 21 string Kotos and Anne Norman on Shakuhachi … performed in BMW-Edge at Federation Square, Melbourne.

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Haru no Umi (Spring Sea) – 7mins

Haru no Umi (Spring Sea) – MIYA GI Michio (1929)

This work was composed by the leading koto performer & composer of the early 20th century, Miyagi Michio. It has been performed all over the world in various arrangements including violin & piano and flute & orchestra.

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Hanayagi (The Greening) … 6.75mins

Hanayagi  (The Greening) … Koto  –  Miki Minoru (1969)

The 2 1 string koto was born in 1969, brain child of the popular composer Miki Minoru. (Koto normally has 13 strings). Hanayagi expresses the end of Winter and the advent of spring, with flowers blossoming.

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Aki no Kyoku (Song of Autumn) – 13.25mins

Aki no Kyoku (Song of Autumn) – Miki Minoru (1980)

Prologue and Autumn Fantasy
This is a very lyrical piece, depicting nature on an Autumnal Day. Miki Minoru is a composer of Operas and artistic director of Japan’s leading contemporary ensemble employing traditional and modernised Japanese instruments, and instruments from other East Asian countries.

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Ame zanzan (The Squall) – 4.75mins

Ame zanzan (The Squall) … Koto

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Izumi FUJIKAWA – Performer Profile

Izumi lives and performs in the city of Kumamoto, Kyushu. She began learning koto in 1977 and in 1986 became a licensed koto master in the Ikuta Guild Miyagi stream . Izumi has also studied with Japan ’s leading teachers: Sawai Tadao, Yoshioka Hiroko, Nakamura Akikazu, Fukuda Takashi, and Yoshizaki Katsuhiko. Izumi has won many music awards including 2nd Prize in The National Japan Koto Competition and 1st Prize in The Great Wall of China International Music Competition. She is a founding member of Orchestra Asia Japan (ORA-J) hailed as “A Creative Group of a high artistic level producing works of New Music”. ORA-J, under their Artistic Director MIKI Minoru, regularly perform in Tokyo, and throughout Asia and Europe.

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Anne NORMAN – Performer Profile

Anne took up the shakuhachi in 1986 in Japan studying with Nakamura Shindo and later, Tajima Tadashi. In 1990 she received a Japanese Government scholarship to study with Yamaguchi Goro at Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Music. Since then, Anne has had training under a number of Japan ’s top shakuhachi masters including Yokoyama Katsuya. Anne has performed in major arts festivals in Australia and Europe, as well as concerts in America and Japan. She has been commissioned by professional and amateur shakuhachi players in Japan to compose new works for the instrument, expanding the repertoire of this ancient instrument.
Anne has an MA in Ethnomusicology (Monash), and a B Mus (Melbourne Uni).