Theme Music From H. Miyazaki Anime/ Spirited Away, Totoro, Lapiuta and others by East Winds Ensemble

Marco Lienhard has mastered the shakuhachi under Masters Katsuya Yokoyama and Teruo Furuya. Mastered the Watazumi Dokyoku style, Kinko and modern style. He was a principal member of Ondekoza from 1981-1997 where he learned and mastered the Taiko drum, the fue and folk dances. He has performed in the worlds most prestigious halls, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Boston Symphony Hall, Suntory Hall, Osaka Festival Hall. Lienhard has done numerous recordings with Ondekoza and two critically acclaimed solo shakuhachi recordings. In 1995, Lienhard founded the group Taikoza( a New York based professional Taiko group) with which he has since toured Europe, the US and Mexico.

M. Lienhard regularly performs in Japan as a guest artist. He recently performed in Tokyo to a sold out house with Kodo member Chieko Kojima.

Marco Lienhard has appeared on many TV shows including "Regis and Kathie Lee Show ," the PBS special "A World of Performances," MTV, NBC's 1998 Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. Lienhard has recorded music for movies and documentaries and was the featured shakuhachi player in the American premiere of "The Temple of the Golden Pavilion" with the New York City Opera at Lincoln Center.

www.taikoza.com

Masayo Ishigure began playing the koto and jiuta shamisen at the age of five in Gifu, Japan. She studied with Tadao and Kazue Sawai, an later became a special research student in 1986 at the Sawai Koto Academy of Music. The aim of the academy was to shed new light on koto music by incorporating everything from Bach to jazz and thus change the koto from being thought of only as a traditional Japanese instrument into an instrument of universal expressiveness. Masayo Ishigure became one of a small group of virtuoso disciples of the Sawais . She recorded with Tadao Sawai on two CDs: The World of Tadao Sawai and Tori no Yoni.

She has performed all over the world, and appeared in such festivals as Bang on a Can (NYC). Ms. Ishigure has been featured in two public television broadcasts, Music Under New York and World of Music. In 1997, she recorded Koto music for CBS Master Work for use during the broadcast of the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics.

In 1992 Ms. Ishigure began teaching koto and shamisen in the music department of Wesleyan University (CT) as an artist in residence where she formed the Wesleyan Koto Ensemble. She also offers private lessons as the only Sawai Koto School instructor in the New York metropolitan area. Member of Taikoza (Japanese Drum) group. www.letsplaykoto.com

Notes on the instruments:

The shakuhachi is an end blown bamboo flute with four holes in the front and one hole in the back. It was used as a form of Buddhist meditation. In the Meianji temple in Kyoto, monks used to play these pieces as part of their training. The monk's philosophy can be defined by the following words "Ichion Joubutsu," which means, " a single note to reach enlightenment or Buddhahood". It was used later in court music ensemble as accompaniment to the koto and the shamisen( a three stringed banjo-like instrument). Over the years, its presence in popular music has increased and it can now be heard in a wide range of genres. It is believed that it came to Japan from China and perhaps India along with Buddhism- it was then a six hole instrument.

The Koto is a semi cylindrical zither with 13 strings. Each string has a movable bridge, which allows many different tuning combinations. The strings are plucked with small picks on the thumb and the first two fingers of the right hand, while the left raises the pitch or changes the tone. The earliest koto (yamagoto or wagon) had only five strings and was about three feet long. A sixth string was added in the Nara period(710-794). The 13-stringed Koto is modeled on the Chinese Zheng and is approximately six feet long. It also dates from the 8th century and could be found in the court music ensembles. A number of new schools of solo Koto developed in the late 15th century.

Average Customer Review: 5