There is a commonly held view that Japanese music consists solely of J-pop and traditional classical music. Both of these widely exported genres stand at opposing ends of the musical spectrum; the western influenced J-pop scene stands starkly at odds with the ancient heritage of the traditional.
But between these two opposing poles the ground is held by a host of artists who are not only drawing upon the styles of the past and the present, but are also expanding to create music beyond any definition of genre. The role of the traditional instruments themselves are being challenged and re-assessed as they are freed from the constrictions of Japanese classical music.
Koto
Having mastered the techniques of the Ikuta and Yamada schools, Chieko Mori stands at the forefront of changing opinion about the traditional instrument, the 13 string Koto. Related to the Chinese zither the Gu Zheng, the Koto has a two-metre long sounding box with an arched harmonic table.
Each of the 13 strings are strung across mobile bridges along the body of the instrument, which can be moved to alter the pitch of the strings. The player kneels at the instrument and plucks the strings using the first three fingers of the right hand. The left hand is used to change the tone and colour of the sound by applying pressure on the strings behind their bridges.
Jumping Rabbit
Jumping Rabbit, her first album released on John Zorn’s Tzadik label in 2005 is a realisation of her adaptation of classical forms to suit her own compositional and improvisational style. The last time Tzadik released a solo Koto album it was Yagi Michiyo’s Shizuku in 1998. That album was characterised by Michiyo’s volatile avant guarde pieces, which explored the sonic possibilities of the instrument, finding new ways to expound its unique resonance.
Chieko Mori still explores the sound of the Koto, but her work is more structured and less frenzied. Her music is experimental and challenging without ever becoming unlistenable. The melody of “Midnight Forest” is broken by discordantly echoing string bends, and the eerily disjointed “Quiet Church” is torn by bursts of piercing tremolo.
“Fly Away” and “Dreams” are the most accessible tracks on the album and are the only tunes where the Koto begins to sound like one would expect it to. The former track has a delicately picked melody, which is given real depth by a sympathetic improvisation on the resonating bass strings. “Dreams” similarly moves serenely through its 9 minutes, and luckily just stops short of verging into New Age territory.
The real highlights though are the staccato squeaks of the title track “Jumping Rabbit” and the apocalyptic cyclical patterns of “Charm Music Box” which, as well as being musically adventurous, portray fully her astonishing command of her instrument.
By working with an instrument that is an embodiment of ancient Japan, some may approach the album with misconceptions about the music. The sounds that she conjurors from her instrument do not belong to any specific genre such as the West, the Orient, Contemporary music or the avant guarde, yet she is eager to embrace them all. Chieko Mori dispels the orientalism associated with her instrument and creates a diverse sound voicing the colours of her own soul.
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