Yahan-raku

2021

Sample video

“Yahann-raku/ Shumpū batei no kyoku (18 stantzas by Yosa Buson)" Live version

"Yahann-raku/ Shumpū batei no kyoku" is a piece I commissioned Jun Kawazaki for the launch of initium ; auditorium in July 2020. The premiere performance was a solitary recording of the singer playing the piano and singing alone with electronics, but Today, since it is a festival (!), we will premiere a live arrangement by the composer with the instrumentalists. The text is in various forms, including haiku and Chinese poetry by Yosa Buson and their French translations, and the musical style is diverse, including children's songs, rap, improvisation, and contemporary music. The first half of the piece we will perform today, "Shumpū batei no kyoku" is about a young girl serving her apprenticeship in Osaka, and her journey back to her parents' home　along the Nagara River. We hope you will enjoy the latter half of the song, "Yahann-raku," in which she returns from Kyoto to Osaka, in the video version.