JAPON - SATSUMA-BIWA - JUNKO UEDA
The satsuma-biwa is a Japanese lute, traditionally used to accompany storytelling. It was brought from China to Japan in the seventh or eighth century. Generally speaking, musical instruments in Asia at that time were invested with metaphysical powers. The
satsuma-biwa style has evolved, the instrument now being played in concert halls, but the principal has remained the same: the instrument is always associated closely with the voice. The most impressive moments in a performance of biwa music are not created by the meaning
of the words but by the sound of the voice and the timing of the breath.
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Born in Tokyo, Junko Ueda has been living in Europe since 1988 and she appears at many important festivals. Her first CD was awarded the Grand Prix du Disque by the Académie Charles Cros, Paris.
Takemitsu, who composed the third piece on this recording, says the biwa ‘has a unique and important character as a Japanese instrument that makes the most of the elements abandoned by Western music in its process of stylistic development and modernisation. The biwa
can produce sound that is, I dare say, a sort of beautiful noise. It certainly is a concept which is rooted deeply in traditional Japanese aesthetics.
This sixth volume on the ETHNOMAD label presents an extraordinary style of music performed by an exceptional artist and thus provides a useful counterpoint to the westernisation of world music.
ARTISTE : Junko Ueda (Satsuma-biwa et voix).
TITRES : 1 - Dan-no-Ura (Musique de Kinshi Tsuruta - style de Tsuruta-ryû et texte de Genzô Murakami 2 - Yoshitsume (Musique de Kinshi Tsuruta - style de Tsuruta-ryû et texte de Yôko Mizuki 3 - Voyage - pour trois biwa (composition de Tôru Takemitsu : 1973).
Other Discs : Nastaran, Dengo, Zoura, Négra, Hapi Syté, Bulenga, Sueno Gitano, Radha Bhava, Raighinas
New release : Varanasie Ras, Sarefi
