This album is made up of eleven pieces chosen by five composer/pianists with a great love for the piano, all working on one theme. The theme is as the title, the "Ancient City". When we say the Ancient City, we think of Kyoto. For a thousand years until the capital was moved to Tokyo, it served as the center of the Japanese culture as its imperial capital. As you can see from the fact that 20% of the national treasures and 15% of the important cultural assets are concentrated in Kyoto, it has been the city of creativity and culture since the Heian Era. As for the musical aspect of the culture, imperial music was developed based on the pentatonic scales that was quite probably imported from China, then re-arranged into Japanese style. This was to become the Japanese scale.
When I write a song, I always drift on my imaginary ocean while spinning a globe. (Though sometimes I am nearly drawn in ...)
I sometimes do the same when I write music for a drama or movie.
I was asked to do this project by Pacific Moon and again, when I decided to join it, the first thing I did was to spin my 'Globe'. "I wonder what thing I can do with 'Asia' as the starting point?" I had been looking at it for a while when I noticed that there is a, 'Prairie Route' above the Silk Road. It is further north than the Silk Road. It is the route that has Changan as its base, includes the Mongolian steppe, crosses south of the Aral sea and goes through Astrakhan to Turkey. It seems to be called 'TIAN SHAN BEI LU'. When I imagined that country I have never seen, a melody came into my head. It was, 'ASIAN WIND'. It was in that moment that I thought, "Right, I'm gonna make an album that's about travelling my way on "The Prairie Road, TIAN SHAN BEI LU", an album that is full of thoughts about this route." The album was not created from a historical point of view. The melodies were born in my imagination. Probably it is also important for people to enjoy such an imaginary trip. I have had a musical trip with all these people: a Niko (Chinese lute) player LIU FENG, a Chinese biwa (lute) player SHAO RONG, a Chinese zither player JIAN XIAO-QING, a Chinese qin (zither) player LIN MIN and a quartet which plays Chinese instruments (The Beautiful Flower Ensemble). Over the long period when I created eight albums with The Paris Opera Theater Orchestra I had always talked with them about, "Coming back with Misa's Asian songs..." I created those thoughts with 'The Beautiful Flower Ensemble'. Someday in the near future, I wish that we can be a bridge between Asia and Europe in the way Marco Polo traveled from the far western end to the eastern end. The artists and I hope that we can send you, even though it is only a small bridge, our hearts and musical notes in a souvenir called "Music" from Asia through TIAN SHAN BEI LU.
Japanese drums known as "wadaiko" are popular abroad as well as in Japan. The overseas performances by the drum band "Onndekoza" and the solo player Eitetsu Hayashi who pioneered in solo drum performance win admiration world-wide. And there are the young people born abroad with a Japanese heritage who form drum bands in the search for their identity. The Japanese rock band "Musashi" which includes wadaiko and shakuhachi (flute) in their gigs are proving popular in Central America and the American West Coast. The band "Hiroshima", put together by second generation Japanese Americans from the LA area, have established a firm hold in the American music field since the 1970's, creating their music based on wadaiko, flute and Western instruments. In 1999, the synthesizer operator and music producer Kiyoshi Yoshida released a PACIFIC MOON LABEL album featuring the wadaiko called "Asian Drums". It ranked sixteenth on the music chart for the American FM New Age Music genre. The newly released "Asian Drums 2" is the second of the series that was released in the wake of
its success. When we say "wadaiko", we the Japanese, usually imagine a lively and energetic scene, high in spirits and with gallantry but, it feels to me like Yoshida has given the drums an entirely different direction in the case of these two albums. He does not make use of the Japanese sense of time-space or "ma", stretching time or
making it short, but instead keeps the basic beat as the basis of the music. It's a good way to blend the sounds of the synthesizer and the wadaiko. The wadaiko which is normally put in the forefront is kept in the back and backs up the entire piece. By keeping the wadaiko which can create a world by just a single sound under lids patiently for just a little while, the ever transforming synthesizer which has no characteristic of its own comes to the surface. The role of the wadaiko here is to set a stable moto-tone feel, rather than to rigorously create a beat. The sounds that are the most often heard are shamisen like sounds playing in unison. This is the cheerful and bright part of the piece, these speedy phrases have the role of pulling the music forward more and more. The wadaiko performers in the album belong to the "Bonten" and is led by Masataka Kobayashi.
BALI, an island where the gods live.
BALI, the island of a refined culture.
Located beneath the equator and to the east of Java Island, the center of the
Republic of Indonesia, this little island stretches 140 km from east to west and 50 km north to south.
They believe their Agung Mountains, at 115 degrees 30 minutes east longitude,
to be the center of the cosmos. The good reside in the mountains of Bali and
the evil in its sea.
The supreme god "Ida Sayan Widi Wasa" reside within the cosmic world of the
Balinese Hinduism.
Good and evil, sacred and the wicked, stillness and movement, yin and yang.
The Balinese people believe that the world is established from the harmony of
the opposing forces and that it becomes purified by it.
The morning prayers to the Hindu gods.
Tunes of the gamelan that comes floating in from somewhere.
Festival parades that you are bound to encounter on a walk somewhere.
The rich green rice terraces, blue skies and the quiet seas.
The gentle eyes of the deeply religious Balinese people.
The sunset that dyes the seas a crimson color. Sounds of the waves in total blackness, and sounds of the insects chirping.
Bali, a place where you can meditate even without closing your eyes.
CD PRICE $17.00
BALI DUA
JALAN JALAN
There is a mysterious magnetic field in Bali. It seems as though the whole island is sending out a strong spirit like one animate object. I have once seen the island of Bali from a distant point on the sea, on my way back from the neighboring island of Lombok. It was a very dry island, and in contrast, Bali seemed to be covered with soft layers of mist. Whether it was rain falling from the sky or vapor rising from the island I could not tell. Bali was there, wrapped in some kind of soft blanket. Once a traveler sets foot on the grounds of this island, he or she will be surrounded by the sounds of life. The voices of children, chickens, people calling, the sounds of horns and engines of motorbikes and buses passing by. As the traveler proceeds into the village, he or she will hear leaves on the palm trees rubbing against one another in the wind, and then, the sound of Gamelan music. [JALAN JALAN] means 'to walk' in Indonesian. [JALAN] means road, and by doubling it, it turns into a verb. When you walk through the island of Bali, you will notice how this island is richly covered with sounds. As you walk the village paths and the road that leads you to the beach, you will hear the sounds of the island. It is like the scent of the flowers in the air. Sounds flow from this album just like that. The air of Bali itself. The Gamelan is an orchestra of brass instruments unique to the islands of Bali and Java. Each instrument plays the same chord in slightly different scales. The soft sounds of brass resonate with each other forming one big sound wave. At times, the sound is like a bellow from underground. Almost every man in Bali is a Gamelan player. They are brought up listening to the sound of the Gamelan as their lullabies. It is their flesh and blood. In other words, Gamelan music is always being played within the bodies of the people of Bali. When we listen to this album, what we hear is the mindscape of the people of Bali, the sounds of the Gamelan, which are always on their minds. 'JALAN JALAN' brings us the music which fills the everyday lives of the Balinese people, and by using a new instrument called the computer they have assimilated the music with ambient sounds. Bali is said to be the most spiritual place in the world. It is a mysterious island, playing music like a living creature. This album takes us there.
MP3 clip
When I write a song, I always drift on my imaginary ocean while spinning a globe. (Though sometimes I am nearly drawn in ...)
I sometimes do the same when I write music for a drama or movie.
I was asked to do this project by Pacific Moon and again, when I decided to join it, the first thing I did was to spin my 'Globe'. "I wonder what thing I can do with 'Asia' as the starting point?" I had been looking at it for a while when I noticed that there is a, 'Prairie Route' above the Silk Road. It is further north than the Silk Road. It is the route that has Changan as its base, includes the Mongolian steppe, crosses south of the Aral sea and goes through Astrakhan to Turkey. It seems to be called 'TIAN SHAN BEI LU'. When I imagined that country I have never seen, a melody came into my head. It was, 'ASIAN WIND'. It was in that moment that I thought, "Right, I'm gonna make an album that's about travelling my way on "The Prairie Road, TIAN SHAN BEI LU", an album that is full of thoughts about this route." The album was not created from a historical point of view. The melodies were born in my imagination. Probably it is also important for people to enjoy such an imaginary trip. I have had a musical trip with all these people: a Niko (Chinese lute) player LIU FENG, a Chinese biwa (lute) player SHAO RONG, a Chinese zither player JIAN XIAO-QING, a Chinese qin (zither) player LIN MIN and a quartet which plays Chinese instruments (The Beautiful Flower Ensemble). Over the long period when I created eight albums with The Paris Opera Theater Orchestra I had always talked with them about, "Coming back with Misa's Asian songs..." I created those thoughts with 'The Beautiful Flower Ensemble'. Someday in the near future, I wish that we can be a bridge between Asia and Europe in the way Marco Polo traveled from the far western end to the eastern end. The artists and I hope that we can send you, even though it is only a small bridge, our hearts and musical notes in a souvenir called "Music" from Asia through TIAN SHAN BEI LU.
Japanese drums known as "wadaiko" are popular abroad as well as in Japan. The overseas performances by the drum band "Onndekoza" and the solo player Eitetsu Hayashi who pioneered in solo drum performance win admiration world-wide. And there are the young people born abroad with a Japanese heritage who form drum bands in the search for their identity. The Japanese rock band "Musashi" which includes wadaiko and shakuhachi (flute) in their gigs are proving popular in Central America and the American West Coast. The band "Hiroshima", put together by second generation Japanese Americans from the LA area, have established a firm hold in the American music field since the 1970's, creating their music based on wadaiko, flute and Western instruments. In 1999, the synthesizer operator and music producer Kiyoshi Yoshida released a PACIFIC MOON LABEL album featuring the wadaiko called "Asian Drums". It ranked sixteenth on the music chart for the American FM New Age Music genre. The newly released "Asian Drums 2" is the second of the series that was released in the wake of
its success. When we say "wadaiko", we the Japanese, usually imagine a lively and energetic scene, high in spirits and with gallantry but, it feels to me like Yoshida has given the drums an entirely different direction in the case of these two albums. He does not make use of the Japanese sense of time-space or "ma", stretching time or
making it short, but instead keeps the basic beat as the basis of the music. It's a good way to blend the sounds of the synthesizer and the wadaiko. The wadaiko which is normally put in the forefront is kept in the back and backs up the entire piece. By keeping the wadaiko which can create a world by just a single sound under lids patiently for just a little while, the ever transforming synthesizer which has no characteristic of its own comes to the surface. The role of the wadaiko here is to set a stable moto-tone feel, rather than to rigorously create a beat. The sounds that are the most often heard are shamisen like sounds playing in unison. This is the cheerful and bright part of the piece, these speedy phrases have the role of pulling the music forward more and more. The wadaiko performers in the album belong to the "Bonten" and is led by Masataka Kobayashi.
BALI, an island where the gods live.
BALI, the island of a refined culture.
Located beneath the equator and to the east of Java Island, the center of the
Republic of Indonesia, this little island stretches 140 km from east to west and 50 km north to south.
They believe their Agung Mountains, at 115 degrees 30 minutes east longitude,
to be the center of the cosmos. The good reside in the mountains of Bali and
the evil in its sea.
The supreme god "Ida Sayan Widi Wasa" reside within the cosmic world of the
Balinese Hinduism.
Good and evil, sacred and the wicked, stillness and movement, yin and yang.
The Balinese people believe that the world is established from the harmony of
the opposing forces and that it becomes purified by it.
The morning prayers to the Hindu gods.
Tunes of the gamelan that comes floating in from somewhere.
Festival parades that you are bound to encounter on a walk somewhere.
The rich green rice terraces, blue skies and the quiet seas.
The gentle eyes of the deeply religious Balinese people.
The sunset that dyes the seas a crimson color. Sounds of the waves in total blackness, and sounds of the insects chirping.
Bali, a place where you can meditate even without closing your eyes.
There is a mysterious magnetic field in Bali. It seems as though the whole island is sending out a strong spirit like one animate object. I have once seen the island of Bali from a distant point on the sea, on my way back from the neighboring island of Lombok. It was a very dry island, and in contrast, Bali seemed to be covered with soft layers of mist. Whether it was rain falling from the sky or vapor rising from the island I could not tell. Bali was there, wrapped in some kind of soft blanket. Once a traveler sets foot on the grounds of this island, he or she will be surrounded by the sounds of life. The voices of children, chickens, people calling, the sounds of horns and engines of motorbikes and buses passing by. As the traveler proceeds into the village, he or she will hear leaves on the palm trees rubbing against one another in the wind, and then, the sound of Gamelan music. [JALAN JALAN] means 'to walk' in Indonesian. [JALAN] means road, and by doubling it, it turns into a verb. When you walk through the island of Bali, you will notice how this island is richly covered with sounds. As you walk the village paths and the road that leads you to the beach, you will hear the sounds of the island. It is like the scent of the flowers in the air. Sounds flow from this album just like that. The air of Bali itself. The Gamelan is an orchestra of brass instruments unique to the islands of Bali and Java. Each instrument plays the same chord in slightly different scales. The soft sounds of brass resonate with each other forming one big sound wave. At times, the sound is like a bellow from underground. Almost every man in Bali is a Gamelan player. They are brought up listening to the sound of the Gamelan as their lullabies. It is their flesh and blood. In other words, Gamelan music is always being played within the bodies of the people of Bali. When we listen to this album, what we hear is the mindscape of the people of Bali, the sounds of the Gamelan, which are always on their minds. 'JALAN JALAN' brings us the music which fills the everyday lives of the Balinese people, and by using a new instrument called the computer they have assimilated the music with ambient sounds. Bali is said to be the most spiritual place in the world. It is a mysterious island, playing music like a living creature. This album takes us there.
