Claus, Gaspar - Jo Ha Kyu

Among the many fascinating aspects of Japan, it is the very vitality of its culture that stands out. Whereas everywhere in the world, traditions fade before cultural globalisation, Japan's ancestral colours overshadow modernity in a unique way.That peculiar intensity is to be found at every level of Japanese avant-garde music, which uses that unmistakably rough sonority deeply engraved into this country's most traditional form of writing. When listening to avant-garde music pieces, one easily detects to what extent they belong to traditional Japanese music, how it has survived under that form. For three weeks, ten musicians from diverse backgrounds (musicians, singers - both traditional and modern) met in a studio in Tokyo and recorded a piece revolving around a system born in Japan in the 8th Century. The "Jo Ha Kyù" is made of three movements : "Jo" is an introduction, or a penetration, "Ha" is a tear and "Kyù" stands as an endless acceleration. It may be because it is cross-disciplinarity and universal that we found this music to be topical. Is has been used in areas as varied as composition, dance, drama, literature or even floral arrangement and tea ceremony. The "Jo Ha Kyù" can be a reading of the world, it may punctuate a conversation or define a relationship. It can be read by observing a piece of music as a whole, by studying each part separately, by focusing on one musical phrase as well as on any single note journeying through that phrase. Great improvisers, gifted with a flawless mastery of their music and highly trained at reading the weft of "Jo Ha Kyù", musicians have transcribed a wide variety of sounds, exploring a musical universe rooted in the depths of Japanese tradition which supports and keeps new music alive. Eiko Ishibashi - Voice, piano, drums Gaspar Claus - cello Kakushin Nishihara - voice, satsuma biwa Kazuki Tomokawa - voice, guitar Kazutoki Umezu - tenor sax Keiji Haino - voice Hiromichi Sakamoto - electric cello etc. Leonard Eto - wadaiko Ryuichi Sakamoto - piano Yoshihide Otomo - turntable Sachiko M - sine wave