https://www.nts.live/shows/the-nts-guide-to/episodes/japanese-court-music-19th-november-2021

Gagaku - Japanese Court Music Final

A GREAT band with great vocal arrangements and interesting textures from Santa Barbara

BirdFeeder - Ghost Tiger

On Ensemble LIVE with Kaoru Watanabe and Sumie Kaneko
Recorded at the Aratani World Series 
On Ensemble: Shoji Kameda, Masato Baba, Eien Hunter-Ishikawa, Kris Bergstrom, David Wells
Special Guests: Kaoru Watanabe, Sumie Kaneko


After Rain composed by Shoji Kameda

solidarity for those who have been protesting against the restart of Oi nuclear plants!!

ODAKIAS - Ryuichi Sakamoto+U-zhaan+Tavito

Featuring the exceedingly talented @robtunstall on cello!

Remastered on: 09/26/2020.
Original: https://soundcloud.com/ts2000/strained-confession-033/s-YXnpQtOd6WI

Strained Confession

Remastered on: 08/21/2020. Original recording can be found here.

https://soundcloud.com/ts2000/through-the-wald-033/s-6i7myQAtYUZ

My first submission to the Music Weeklies Challenge! With the theme this week being writing exclusively for two instruments: in this case, harp and violin. As I was writing though, I got inspired to try and make a little story through sound design.

Each section of the piece emphasizes a long journey through a forest. Beginning in the morning, into the afternoon, evening, and then passing into dawn and beyond.

Feedback always welcome!

Through the Wald

You run around
In my thoughts
Like an empty train
With no stops  
With no breaks  

I lost myself 
In the rush 
You’re opium and pain
When too much 
Just aint enough 

Everything is 2-dimensional
It don’t even matter where I go 
I keep hitting walls or turning zones 
Turning zones 
I gotta let go
 Tonight tonight  I kiss your heart goodbye
Tonight tonight 
Oh-a-oh 
Tonight tonight 
I’m breaking all the lines 
Tonight tonight 
Oh-a-oh I kiss your heart goodbye

The city’s wild
Already June
I space out in my sleep
Chasing you
in lucid dreams 

Everything is 2-dimensional
It don’t even matter where I go 
I keep hitting walls or turning zones 
Turning zones 
I gotta let go

Tonight tonight 
I’m breaking all the lines 
Tonight tonight 
Oh-a-oh I kiss your heart goodbye

Kiss Your Heart Goodbye

Watermill

Teiji Ito Running

Featuring live shakuhachi from @shih-wei, and live viola from Joylinmusic.

Hidden Meadow

https://www.playitforward.com/projects/275

Lebanon is in crisis.

The devastating explosion that rocked Beirut on August 4 — killing at least 140, wounding more than 5,000 and displacing 300,000 from their homes, including 80,000 children — was the latest chapter in an already terrible crisis unfolding in Lebanon. Economic collapse, food insecurity and a surge in COVID-19 cases have left children and families across the country in need of emergency assistance.

(lifted from A Deadly Blast Rocks Lebanon, Already in Crisis on August 12, 2020 by Sarah Ferguson)

I reached out to two fellow LA based artists, Christine Salama (painter) and Ryan Rost (composer-performer) to collaborate on a music project that would benefit the families impacted by the crisis in Beirut.

As you all know, we live in an extraordinary time of Covid-19, and being stuck at home makes one's soul even more stirred, thus it was even more personally rewarding to get to collaborate with these two fantastic artists to make this project happen.

Lullaby for Beirut is my interpretation of 'Yalla tnam Rima,' a Lebanese lullaby, on my Japanese flute. I have consulted multiple recordings to prepare for the project. There is really not a single version that is as close to Fairuz's. Her vocal timbre which is at once soulful and tender captures the spirit of this lullaby. I have decided to take her gentle approach and mixed it with the min'yo (Japanese folk) traditional sensibility.

Christine Salama is the creator of the exquisite visual design to the project. Not only, was she able to capture the spirit of the project with her work, but also provide much insight to the language and culture of the middle east region through her experience as a member of the Coptic christian diaspora in Los Angeles.

Ryan Rost, who was originally invited to lay a bass track to the project, responded with "I'm going in a different direction". He was able to create his own take on the message behind "Lullaby for Beirut" and created a whole world out of my recording.

Thank you so very much for taking the time to read about this project, and I hope you will be inspired by these music to donate to UNICEF, who is on the front lines of keeping family safe and sheltered during this time of crisis.

Special thanks to Christine Salama and Ryan Rost for the incredible work on this project.

01. Lullaby for Beirut - Yalla tnam Rima (Solo Shakuhachi)
Shih-wei Wu, Shakuhachi
Recorded in Los Angeles, California
Mixed by Shih-wei Wu

02. Lully for Beirut (feat. Ryan Rost)
Shih-wei Wu, Shakuhachi
Ryan Rost, Mixing and Processing
Recorded in Los Angeles, California

01. Lullaby For Beirut - Yalla Tnam Rima

Composer-Performer on the shakuhachi, taiko and yokobue. 
Bandleader of Red Eye 2 Tokyo.

01. Lullaby For Beirut - Yalla Tnam Rima

Shih-wei

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