AEA Sessions: Kojiro Umezaki – Shakuhachi Solo

Known for his work with the Grammy-nominated Silk Road Ensemble, Shakuhachi player and composer, Kojiro Umezaki (梅崎康二郎) performs an improvised variation of “Ondo no Funauta”, a traditional Japanese folk song from the Hiroshima region. This AEA Session features the Shakuhachi miked up-close with an N8, an R88 Stereo Mic on room to pick up the natural, lush reverb of the sanctuary, all powered with RPQ500 preamps.

Watch Kojiro Umezaki perform “Ondo no Funauta”

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About The Artist

Noted by The New York Times as a “virtuosic, deeply expressive shakuhachi player and composer,” Kojiro Umezaki (梅崎康二郎) performs regularly with the Grammy-nominated Silk Road Ensemble with whom he appears on multiple recordings including Sing Me Home, A Playlist Without Borders, Off the Map, and the 2015 documentary film, The Music of Strangers, directed by Morgan Neville. Other recordings with his work have been released on Brooklyn Rider’s Dominant Curve; Yo-Yo Ma’s Appassionato; Beat in Fractions’ Beat Infraction; The Silk Road: A Musical Caravan (Smithsonian Folkways); and Huun Huur Tu’s Ancestors Call. His latest solo album of mostly original works, (Cycles), was released in 2014.

Born to a Japanese father and Danish mother, Umezaki grew up in Tokyo and is a performer of the shakuhachi, a composer of electro-acoustic works, and a technologist with interests in integrating global musical practices with electronics. He is Associate Professor of Music at the University of California, Irvine and a core member of the Integrated Composition Improvisation and Technology (ICIT) faculty.