How does this video not have more views?! Beautiful, magnificent, and masterful. I wish the traditional koto received more attention. It has a much more applicable sound than the harp, it might as well be a variation of acoustic guitar.
Nice performance, but I really prefer Sakai's koto solo rather than pairing with the violin. The violin in this performance over-powered the Koto too much. I'm not sure if this is really due to the stage setup or recording, but this combination is less pleasing than his koto solo since a lot of the nuance in the koto is masked by the heavy sound of the violin.
Very nice duet! In regards to the composition is rather 'western' or whether this is Japanese music, I think it is needless to be recognized that the 25 String Koto is an innovation of the traditional koto, so that it can play modern music and cooperate with western instruments. This is also Japanese music showing a rather modern perspective of Japanese Aesthetic. It would not be as impressive if it is not koto but piano or harp, but the difficulty to consider tuning and technique for koto is much harder, if one understands the mechanics of all three instruments. Certain sound quality of the koto instrument is not replaceable. And there is nothing to worry about 'direction of the Japanese music', there are many players and learners for traditional schools.
well, What a big deal for a koto played on the western music. There are so many musicians use the western instruments to play traditional Asian music all the time. I dare you to use any piano or harp to play on this piece, trust me, you wont get the same feeling. Music is the universal gift-we all can share-it is just another way how we could tangibly menifest our imagination.
Is this even Japanese music anymore? The only thing Japanese about this music is that there is a koto family instrument playing, but the music itself is Western. If you had a piano or harp play the 25 string koto part, this woul dhave nothing at all to do with Japanese music. I'm worried about the future of true Japanese music, if this is the direction it's headed in.
