Professor Tomiko Kojima

On Saturday, Ginny and I attended a concert at the famous Meiji Jingu (shrine) in the Harajuku district of Tokyo. We were there at the invitation of Tomiko Kojima, Professor Emeritus of the National Museum of Japanese History.

Our meeting with Professor Kojima had been arranged by my friends Shizuo Harada and Kazuko Nakao. Kazuko had learned of my electronic music project in Japan and, as Professor Kojima is her aunt, suggested that we meet. Prof. Kojima's area of expertise is traditional folk music of Japan and, wow, does she know her stuff!

With the assistance of Harada-san's translation and drawings, she gave Ginny and I a virtual lecture on the history of Gagaku (Japanese Imperial Court music), which provided a nice preview to the concert we were about to attend. I have always enjoyed the musical fabric - or texture - of Gagaku. It was through this music that I was introduced to the Sho, a Japanese wind instrument that features 17 pipes, like a pipe organ. However, Professor Kojima took us deep - through Gagaku's origins (this music came to Japan from China and Korea about 1400 years ago), to its near extinction in the 8th century, to its contemporary status as a respected Japanese musical tradition.

The highlight of our meeting came when I asked Professor Kojima to listen to a bit of the electronic music I've been researching. I pulled out the headphones and iPod and decided to scroll to a track from Opitope's new CD, "Hau," which has been a favorite of mine on this current trip to Japan. She happily obliged.

Her response was a bit surprising. She said that it reminded her of "Healing" music. ("Healing" music is a very popular musical style here in Japan. It is really an umbella term that covers some modern acoustic folk styles, some world music styles, and even a few holdouts from the New Age era.)

Later, Ginny and I discussed this response. To be fair, Professor Kojima was listening in less than ideal conditions (she heard a 2 minute track while sitting inside a noisy cafeteria). Nonetheless, her response was valuable: she reminded me that it is going to be very important to educate listeners about Japanese electronica - particularly as the Backyard Project moves forward. Prof. Kojima gave Ginny and I some great musical insights into Gagaku. And, this truly enhanced our enjoyment of the concert that followed. Considering that Berklee is hoping to host a collaboration week for the Backyard Project artists next year, it will be important to provide musical context and background for our audience. For this reminder alone, I would like to say, "Arigatoo gozaimashita, Professor Kojima!"

This week, Ginny and I are part of the Berklee Clinics team in Kobe. We are heading northeast to Nagoya later this afternoon. In the next post, I will include some photos from this week's clinics...