Chieko Kojima ”Yukiai–Kiyohime”

Introduction

Based on the story of Anchin and Kiyohime from the tales of Dojoji, Chieko Kojima’s solo project Yukiai “Kiyohime” makes its debut appearance at EC this year. Don’t miss Chieko’s unique portrayal of Kiyohime in this special performance with a stellar musical accompaniment led by Shunsuke Kimura.

Performers’ profiles

Chieko Kojima

Chieko Kojima first encountered Japanese folk dancing when she moved to Sado to join Sado no Kuni Ondekoza in 1976. In 1981, she went on to become one of the founding members of Kodo. In addition to her work with Kodo, she also expresses herself through the female song-and-dance trio, ”Hanayui,” and has an active solo career that is perhaps best characterized by her ongoing project, ”Yukiai.” She is noted for her original dancing style in Kodo’s taiko-based performances, which is exemplified by her vivid portrayal of the goddess Ameno-uzume in the first season of ”Amaterasu” in 2006. She continues to ambitiously broaden her expressive outlets, as demonstrated by her recent productions based on the ”Tales of Dojoji.” She became a Kodo Distinguished Member in 2012, and a year later she visited four European countries as a Cultural Envoy from Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs. She is also the ongoing programme director for the annual Sado-based concert series ”Kodo Special Performances on Sado Island,” which began in 2012.

Shunsuke Kimura

Kimura is a traditional Japanese instrumentalist（fue, shamisen, etc.） as well as a composer and arranger. He has performed many of his original compositions in concert, and through his music he unfolds a unique world of abstract, emotional, fantastical and poetic lyricism. He has researched divine rituals and celebrations throughout Japan, and he has taken structures and rhythms from his research to influence his own new compositions.

Hiromi Nishida

Nishida studied western violin music and composition at Ueno Gakuen University Department of Instruments. Under Nubian oud player Hamza El Din she studied oud, and Egyptian violin and music theory under Egyptian violinist Abd Dagher. In 1985 she formed the microtonal pop group Syzygys with Hitomi Shimizu. She has been a member of Sharkiat in Egypt since 1996, and Abdo Dagher Ensemble and Muhammad Munir Ensemble since 1997 and is was based in Cairo. She currently lives in Tokyo.

Suna Pak

Pak is a boundary-crossing artist who has integrated cultural influences from Japan, North and South Korea, traditional to contemporary music into her work. Born in Japan, she enjoyed playing gayageum since she was a child attending Korean school. She then studied traditional arts in depth under masters with long lineage in both Pyongyang and South Korea. The deep sounds of the gayageum, an instrument that is tied to her identity, moves the listener at the core, and her extraordinary performance technique takes the audience beyond the instrument to a new dimension in the realm of music.

Ayuko Ikeda

Since graduating from Osaka University of the Arts Department of Musical Performance as a percussion major, she has been actively performing music across genres, from classical to African, Latin, Chinese biwa（lute） and tsugaru shamisen, and collaborations with koto. She has also accompanied numerous artists in concert and recordings, done studio work for music for radio dramas, musicals and performances abroad. She also works actively in elementary, middle and high schools, leading music clubs, teaching clinics, and performing concerts. She studied classical percussion under Takao Okumura and Shimpei Hosoda, and conga and djembe under Michiharu Yokozawa. She is a member of the percussion performance group Beat JACK, the Latin band Diez Puntos and the omnivorous brass band Mitamurakandadan?