Rupert Summerson playing his Shakuhachi

Kotori: Japanese music

Kick back at the Sunday Sessions at Aspen Island with NAMAKO, the Pop Inn bar and some gorgeous Japanese music.

Kotori is a Japanese music ensemble that plays 20th-century and contemporary Japanese music. They will be playing two sessions: 2pm and 3:30pm.

 

About

Kotori means “little bird” in Japanese. In English it is made up of “koto”, the name of Moko’s instrument, and “ri”, the strongest note on the shakuhachi, the instrument Rupert plays. The koto is a 13 string horizontal zither with moveable bridges for tuning. It is descended from the Chinese zheng which was introduced to Japan in the 7th century. The shakuhachi is an end-blown bamboo flute traditionally associated with Zen Buddhism but capable of adapting to a wide range of other genres and styles of music. The shakuhachi/koto duet is a genre with a long history in Japanese music.

Kotori has given many performances in Canberra and the local area over the past 15 years, including performances at Floriade, the Canberra Nara Candle Festival and for the cherry blossom festival (Sakura Matsuri) in Cowra.

The performers

Moko started learning koto in Japan in 1959 and was taught for a year by a blind musician. After a long break she resumed playing in 1985 and began lessons with Australia’s major koto player Satsuki Odamura.

Rupert began studying shakuhachi with Grand Master Riley Lee in 2000. He is currently Vice-President of the Australian Shakuhachi Society. He performs regularly in Canberra both as a soloist and with Kotori.

The music

They will playing both duets and solos. The duets will include Haru No Umi (“Spring Sea”) by Miyagi Michio, Misaki No Todai (“Lighthouse on the Promontory”) by Nomura Seiho and E Mu (“Picture Dreams”) by Kuribayashi Hideaki. Solos will include Miyama Higurashi (“Deep Mountain Cicada”) by Rando Fukuda and Kaze ni kike (“Listen to the Wind”) by Katsuhiko Yoshizaki.