Hogaku 2008 :

New Sounds from Japan

Re-envisioning Japanese traditions within a contemporary context, two exciting new interpreters of Japanese traditional music, or Hogku, have taken the contemporary music scene by storm. Wariki, a quartet with Akira Katogi (taiko / dance), Shunsuke Kimura (yokobue / shamisen), Etsuro Ono (shamisen / taiko), and Shingo Ikegami (koto), breathe new life into the traditional folk arts of Japan. The Goto & Obama Duo consists of Yukihiro Goto on biwa and Akihito Obama on shakuhachi. Each group is extending the vocabulary of these traditional forms to reach new generations of music fans. Co-presented with the Japan Foundation