Today's Pick Up : Kam-pai Divertimento for Koto and Vibraphone / Mizuki Aita

I will be introducing some Golden Hearts Publications piece per week.

Please give me a few moments of your time!

Here's today's piece.

Kam-pai Divertimento for Koto and Vibraphone / Mizuki Aita

Printed version
https://global.goldenheartspublications.com/products/ghaa-08

PDF version
https://global.goldenheartspublications.com/products/ghaa-08-pdf



Program notes :

At the recommendation of composer Makoto Nomura, I was asked to participate in a project called "NOTES" organized by the Japan Foundation Asia Center.

What was decided at that point was to plan to invite Indonesian musicians to Japan for two weeks in January 2018 to do "something". And in July, we would also go to Indonesia. That was it. And we were to come up with that "something" ourselves. The chairperson, Ms. Toshie Aoyagi, was a member of the group.

The chairperson, Ms. Toshie Aoyagi, was a very versatile person, and although she often made us feel uncomfortable, she had a pulling power that strangely pulled people along, and the members affectionately called her "boss".

Through my interactions with Indonesian musicians, the act of "composing" that I had kept locked away until then came to me with a strange sense of reality.

One day, I decided that if I were to go to Indonesia, it would be essential for the Japanese team to perform a piece together.

Immediately, the string of notes I had written down was tuned up on the 13-string koto, and the cheerful rhythm of the Indonesian popular song DANGDUT exploded in my brain.

Sakura Sakura emerges from the chaos, incorporating on-the-spot improvisation... When all the images came together, the composition took no time at all.

Rehearsal in Indonesia, July 2018. Ms. Aoyagi was so happy to hear the music, and one of the members, Welly, hugged me as soon as we finished playing the music.

The first performance in the hot and humid air of Indonesia was filled with explosive applause, and I decided to start "composing" once again.

（Mizuki Aita)


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Shuhei Umemoto
Golden Hearts Publications Global Store