By Iminza Keboge
Published January 25, 2020
A leading world music label, ARC Music of Britain, has released two brand new albums for 2020 from Japan and Portugal.
In the first nine-track album titled Taiko Do: Echo of the Soul, artists KyoShinDo bring a unique approach to the Japanese drumming tradition. They are not
only experts in taiko drumming, but also in karate, which they incorporate into this already spectacular performance art. They formed with the teachings of
Masters Kurumaya Masaaki and Joji Hirota.
Kurumaya Masaaki was born in Fukui, Japan. Master of The Way of Taiko, proponent of the mitsuuchi style, he captivates audiences with the dynamism and
expressive ability of his improvisations. KyoShinDo have been to Japan to learn the traditional taiko style from Kurumaya Masaaki, and since 2007 they have been performing together in Japan and Italy.
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Joji Hirota is a composer, taiko drummer, multi-percussionist, shakuhachi player and singer. He performs both traditional and original, creative productions in a new contemporary style of taiko music. KyoShinDo’s taiko path began in 2003 after meeting Joji Hirota, and since 2009 KyoShinDo has been collaborating and performing with him on stages in countries such as Malta, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Japan and Italy.
The tracks, and their running time, are:
- Hinode – 5:59
- Kazan – 6:34
- Suisei Hanabi II – 6:38
- Fuujin – 4:19
- The Wind Snow Village – 3:41
- Raijin – 6:25
- Akita Ondo II – 6:37
- Bushi No Ikioi – 8:37
- Oh Nami – 6:20.
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Also released on January 24, 2020 alongside Taiko Do: Echo of the Soul is a 10-track recording titled Amália Classics on Portuguese Guitar.
The music is by Custódio Castelo, the world’s leading player of the Portuguese fado guitar, the instrument that saw fado music declared an Intangible Cultural Heritage by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).
Like Carlos Paredes, Custódio Castelo creates groundbreaking new sounds that have promoted the Portuguese Guitar to a concert instrument that can be played solo or as accompaniment. Custódio Castelo’s unique Portuguese guitar, handmade from an oak root by master Oscar Cardoso, is capable of fine nuances of emotion, and he uses them well, especially for melancholy, but also for a sense of jubilation.
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From early on Custódio Castelo was considered a prodigy due both to his audacious style of playing and the talent he showed, acknowledged by famous names of traditional fado, such as D Vicente da Câmara, Manuel de Almeida and Fernando Farinha.
An important career highlight was Custódio Castelo’s participation in Mísia’s “Garras dos Sentidos” through which he became her main accompanist for two years; in Camané’s “Na Linha da Vida”, after which he toured with Camané and Carlos do Carmo; Mariza’s first album, “Fado em Mim”, and the accompaniment of Mafalda Arnauth at “The Royal Hope Charity Gala”, with Sarah Brightman, the Royal Ballet, Plácido Domingo and Joaquin Cortés.
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Custódio Castelo was in 2010 honoured with the Amália Rodrigues Award for the Best Fado Instrumentalist. It was through the music of Amália Rodrigues that a young Custódio Castelo fell in love with fado. The experience was to prove prescient, as decades later, Custódio accompanied Amália on her final tour of the United States in the 1990s.
This album is Custódio Castelo’s love letter to the music of Amália Rodrigues. A Rainha do Fado – the Queen of Fado.
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The 10 tracks on Custódio Castelo’s Amália Classics on Portuguese Guitar and their respective run time appear here below:
- Estranha forma de vida – 3:54
- Ai Maria – 2:48
- Gaivota – 3:55
- Ai Mouraria – 4:06
- Lágrima – 4:38
- Não sei porque te foste embora – 2:29
- Morrinha – 2:19
- Tudo isto é fado – 3:09
- Fui ao mar buscar sardinhas – 2:08
- Fado Amália – 2:12
- Gostava de ser quem era – 2.15 (bonus track).
