Saturday, November 6, 2010

Le Koto de Hiromu Handa - Vol.1 - P.1977



Prestige de la musique extraeuropéenne - Le Japon - Vol. 1
Hiromu Handa - Le Koto de…
Disques Espêrance - ESP 155.551 - P.1977







Face A



1 Yumé-no-shinnaï, petite pièce à la manière de shinnai, musique pour shamisen


2 Itsugui-no-komori-uta, berceuse d'Itsugui, village de la région de Kumamoto au Kyûshû
3 Karéi-naru-shirabé, impromptu inspiré par la beauté des kimonos de cérémonie.
4 Sado-Okessa, chant populaire de l'île Sadogashima sur Okéssa, rythme spécifiquement japonais
5 Sandan-chô, piece en trois mouvements
6 Kyo-uta, mélodie avec des refrains nostalgiques

Face B

7 Sakura-kaété-godan, cinq variations sur l'air Sakura (fleur de cerisier)
8 Yoï-matsuri impression musicale au soir de la fête (matsuri) de l'enfence
9 Hônen-matsuri, compositions sur la fête de la moisson. Thème et développements
10 Midaré, œuvre classique composée par Kurabashi-Kengo (mort en 1724)








Hiromu Handa,




半田弘


Born in Osaka in 1934. He began his studies on Shakuhachi when he was six years old with his father who was an amateur musician. At the age of 13 he took up studies in Shamisen and Koto. He participates in numerous concerts and in 1953 he gained considerable appreciation for his composition "The night train" that was praised by enthusiastic critics.









Living




near Tottori, on the Sea of Japan, he devoted himself to research on new techniques of playing the koto, published some of his











research in





an essay entitled "The possibilities of the right hand of the koto player". Performer and composer, Hiromu Handa has enjoyed high esteem in Japan and in foreign countries where he has given many recitals over the years.













I have not been able to find any other recordings by him but there was a constant rumour back in the seventies that he was considered to avantgard and unorthodox with his constant experimenting with plucking techniques for someone insisting to stay in the tradition. I have not been able to find any printed text supporting these rumours and if anyone has any more information on him and his music, please share it in the comments to the post!





























4 comments:

Janas said...

Great album, Thanks again!

VicDiesel said...

Spectacular stuff. Thanks for posting.

Anonymous said...

Hey this one is really unique. I listen to loads of Koto and all the players pretty much got in common that they only play the well known traditional pieces and interpret them slightly different. But this guy here is really forging new territory, thanks a lot for this, it's already worth it, when you hear the first few second of this recording.

Anonymous said...

Fabulous!
I've been searching the internet for years too in order to find more info and recordings and I simply cannot understand why there is no more to be found from such a gifted player/composer.
Bought this record in 1984 if I remember well. Love it.
jim