Koto

stanza2

LowSound

the New Year 2016 playslist!

[ Also listen in our popular Spotify playlist MUSIC FOR HOME: https://urlgeni.us/spotify/musicforhome ]

“As I sit here
Waiting and wanting
Surrounded by the ambient blur of the city lights
Waiting at a stop sign
Wanting to go beyond.”


It is exactly this longing to go beyond, beyond the solitary musical journey, that brought these two very gifted artists from Kyoto to cross each other’s’ paths. Marihiko Hara and Masumi Muranaka (Polar M), the 2 seasoned musicians from Kyoto, after 10 years of admiring each other works, decided to take on a voyage together, and sailed beyond the charted territories of their music. And thus, the beautiful result from this wonderful voyage - a special collaboration album entitled “Beyond”, was born.

In this album, both artists went beyond their own borders, over their perceived views, across existing ideas and ways of thinking, to allow their emotions to flow freely in the music making process. As a result, Marihiko, with his gorgeous piano touches, and Masumi, with his heart-felt guitars, jointly crafted the 10 delicate, and breath-takingly beautiful music pieces.

Traces of elegant post-classical, sweet-sounding folktronica, dreamy ambient, and even blue-ish jazz, can be found in this sound-rich album, with all elements masterfully blended together to create an exquisite music listening experience. Piano melodies that drifted in like fireflies at night, layers of guitars that painted the backdrop soundscapes, drips of tiny electronics, spaces between the notes…. The exquisiteness in music that created by Marihiko and Masumi’s wonderful talents are simply beyond words.

Mia Cabalfin, the renowned contemporary dancer from Philippines, who befriended the artists when they composed the music for her residency performance in Kyoto in 2012, lent her beautiful voice in spoken words for 3 amazing tracks. The album is mastered by Tokyo’s renowned musician and sound engineer, Chihei Hatakeyama, and features photos by prominent Japanese photographer Marisa Shimamoto, and designs by Itsuka Sato of sonihouse.

http://www.mu-nest.com/release-info.php?f=mnc014

Dream Bird / Marihiko Hara & Polar M

“As I sit here
Waiting and wanting
Surrounded by the ambient blur of the city lights
Waiting at a stop sign
Wanting to go beyond.”


It is exactly this longing to go beyond, beyond the solitary musical journey, that brought these two very gifted artists from Kyoto to cross each other’s’ paths. Marihiko Hara and Masumi Muranaka (Polar M), the 2 seasoned musicians from Kyoto, after 10 years of admiring each other works, decided to take on a voyage together, and sailed beyond the charted territories of their music. And thus, the beautiful result from this wonderful voyage - a special collaboration album entitled “Beyond”, was born.

In this album, both artists went beyond their own borders, over their perceived views, across existing ideas and ways of thinking, to allow their emotions to flow freely in the music making process. As a result, Marihiko, with his gorgeous piano touches, and Masumi, with his heart-felt guitars, jointly crafted the 10 delicate, and breath-takingly beautiful music pieces.

Traces of elegant post-classical, sweet-sounding folktronica, dreamy ambient, and even blue-ish jazz, can be found in this sound-rich album, with all elements masterfully blended together to create an exquisite music listening experience. Piano melodies that drifted in like fireflies at night, layers of guitars that painted the backdrop soundscapes, drips of tiny electronics, spaces between the notes…. The exquisiteness in music that created by Marihiko and Masumi’s wonderful talents are simply beyond words.

Mia Cabalfin, the renowned contemporary dancer from Philippines, who befriended the artists when they composed the music for her residency performance in Kyoto in 2012, lent her beautiful voice in spoken words for 3 amazing tracks. The album is mastered by Tokyo’s renowned musician and sound engineer, Chihei Hatakeyama, and features photos by prominent Japanese photographer Marisa Shimamoto, and designs by Itsuka Sato of sonihouse.

http://www.mu-nest.com/release-info.php?f=mnc014





City Variations / Marihiko Hara & Polar M

Modern Tales / Marihiko Hara & Polar M

Marihiko Hara playing live. Sound recorded with a handled recorder.

Marihiko Hara - Beat driven live performance at Memoirs Sydney party

Digital bonus track from upcoming Giulio Aldinucci  - Aer, CD

Late this month on Dronarivm.

Stay tuned...

Giulio Aldinucci - In Mare (Porya Hatami Remix)

Coming in early January 2014, is this beautifully minimalist and pastoral full length release from Masaya Kato. Entitled "Trace Of Voices", it comes in two versions. The deluxe, limited version, in an edition of just 65 copies, comes in the form of a Japanese calendar/scroll....featuring the photographs of Barcelona based photographer, Irina Urumova...

This release is also available in a digipak version of 150 copies.

Masaya Kato   "Trace Of Voices"  Ⅵ

17-string Koto : Rieko Oe

Composed by Marihiko Hara in 2008.
Recorded in 2011.


www.marihikohara.com

stanza Ⅱ (for 17-string Koto Solo)

17-string Koto : Rieko Oe
Composition : Marihiko Hara in 2007

Originally composed for the theatre based on Man'yoshu

 (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man'y%C5%8Dsh%C5%AB">Man'yoshu(Wiki)</a>

www.marihikohara.com




stanza Ⅰ (for 17-string Koto Solo)

Immersion Theory is Raygun Ballet's ambient sister project.  This is a remix of Resonance in a more Raygun Ballet style.  Enjoy!

By the way, this was one of our free bonus tracks from the Raygun Ballet website that was made available to Secret Time Corps members a while ago.  Sign up there for more freebies from time to time.

Mastered by Bryan Carrigan.

Resonance (Raygun Renaissance Remix)

Demos created using Impact Soundworks' Koto Nation: Classical Instruments of Japan!

Koto Nation: "Koto Solo" (Traditional) by Andrew Aversa

"El Desdichado" from the album "le soleil noir de la mélancolie" by Frédérique Bruyas + Marihiko Hara.

Info:
http://www.rimacona-lab.com/j_le_soleil_noir.html



"El Desdichado" from "le soleil noir de la mélancolie"

25.ii.13

Echoes of Apollo is easily the most ambient of the four extended tracks on The Icarus Foray.  The track began as an orchestral composition, was then resampled and broken into a dreamy granular wash, and finally minimalistically adorned with a new composition layered on top.

Echoes Of Apollo

すでに幾つか和楽器でアレンジされてる曲ではありますが、箏の基本的な調律で編曲が出来ないものかというコンセプトで臨んでみました。それと、もう一つが箏一面だけで弾けるようにというところですね。
箏の基本的な調律は都節と呼ばれるペンタトニックスケールが用いられている平調子です。その状態から、四、六、九、斗を1全音上げて、為を八の甲、巾を九の甲にして弾いております。一は五の乙です。五は壱越(D)。
お箏を弾いているとだんだん上記の書き方でも理解できるようになりますが、いわゆるABC表記にすると、まずは平調子が
一 二 三 四 五 六 七 八 九 十 斗 為 巾
D G A B♭D E♭G A B♭D E♭G A
となります。
その状態からこの曲では以下のように変更しております。
一 二 三 四 五 六 七 八 九 十 斗 為 巾
D G A C D F G A C D F A C

箏という楽器は絃の数は13本の絃が張られていまして、そこに柱(じ)という自由に動かせるブリッジを立て音が出るようにします。自由に動かせるので、一般的な音階に調律することも出来ますが、基本的な調律および基本的な調律を弾くための技法を身につけることは重要です。
どうせならば楽しく練習出来て基礎の修練が出来るようにと考えている次第です。

千本桜【箏独奏】 senbonzakura on koto solo

Marihiko Hara (b. 1983) is a composer residing in Kyoto, Japan. Graduated from the Department of Education, Kyoto University.
His main interest is to compose serene silence in music and to pursue his own texture of sounds, through electric/acoustic sounds and field recordings. He released the album “PASSION”(2020) , “Landscape in Portrait”(2017), mixing melodic piano, electric abstract sounds and Japanese traditional instruments.

On the other hand, he produces agressive abstract electric music for collaborated projects with people involved in many fields, such as Ryuichi Sakamoto for Damien Jalet’s “Vessel”, “Omphalos” and the documentary film “Agniyogana”, Kohei Nawa, Isabel Muñoz, Raphaël Dallaporta, Hideki Noda and Junya Watanabe COMME des GARÇONS.
He has also joined the artist collective “Dumb Type” since 2014.

stanza Ⅱ (for 17-string Koto Solo)

Marihiko Hara / 原 摩利彦

Marihiko Hara / 原摩利彦