I have known Marco Lienhard for more than thirty years. We met in Osaka, Japan, when we were thirty years younger. At that time I studied Kendo at a sports college and had just started playing sax. Marco, as far as I can remember, was an exchange student. We both were young and starting our adult lives far in the Far East. Both of us had no idea that we would stay in Japan for a very long time and would master a specific Japanese art. Marco is one of the first Europeans to learn and master the shakuhachi and taiko drum in Japan, and I myself become a Kendo master. In 2008 NY brought us together.
Recently Marco joined my band SoSaLa on shakuhachi.
Recommended DooBeeDoo posts
Read his recent interview here.
Read Marco’s TAIKO ZA concert review here.
So let the shakuhachi master himself speak about his Kickstarter campaign.
Text by Marco Lienhard
This is a project I have been wanting to do for many years. I have been performing the music of Rando Fukuda for over 30 years.I feel an affinity for this composer’s music from the first listening. Katsuya Yokoyama ( who became my teacher later on ) was the first shakuhachi performer that I heard playing these songs and I fell in love with the music right away. I always include one or two songs of his in my concerts around the world. So I finally decided to record some of his better known work for shakuhachi and piano. Last year in New York city, I performed a few pieces with Charles Tang at the annual East Winds Ensemble concert at St Marks Church in the East Village in New York city where we are based
After getting very positive feedback from audience members, I decided that it was maybe time to move on with the project and finally record the music. Charles also is a very talented musician and playing the song with him, I felt a connection and felt more at ease to record the pieces with him on piano.
I found a great studio that does mostly classical music and that is affordable. That means that they have a wonderful unique piano a Steinway grand with a beautiful tone.
The budget is hopefully staying small as we are hoping to cover most of the costs incurred in CD production, copyright, recording, editing and of course paying the musicians. So I hope you can all help with this great project to keep alive one of the wonderful composers of the early 20th Century.
Hopefully with all my friends from all over the world i will be able to fund this CD and share it with you- Thank you!!
I am also including our bios but you can find more online.
About the composer Rando Fukuda and his music 福田欄童, 1905–1976
Rando Fukuda is the son of the noted Japanese painter Shigeru Aoki. Early on, he moved to Tokyo to study the Shakuhachi and the piano. He quickly became a prolific composer (theme songs for radio and TV programs, including the hit song: Fuefuki Doji). Fukuda was part of the modern Shakuhachi movement along with the famous Koto composer Michio Miyagi. Bringing romanticism and modernism to the shakuhachi music of the time. My teacher Katsuya Yokoyama felt a great connection to Fukuda Rando’s music (with whom he studied) and made sure that modern generations would not forget this great composer’s soulful music of the Meiji and Showa era. This recording is in memory to one the greatest Shakuhachi Masters of our times: Katsuya Yokoyama.
Marco Lienhard has performed and taught internationally for the last 30 years and has performed over 5000 concerts. He mastered the Shakuhachi (under Master Katsuya Yokoyama and Teruo Furuya), the Taiko, the Noh Flute and the Fue in Japan while touring for 18 years with Japan’s legendary Ondekoza. He is the founder and director of the New York based Taikoza and East Winds Ensemble. He has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Madison Square Garden, and many other venues around the world. Marco Lienhard is featured in many soundtracks and recorded for the award winning Nintendo Wii games: Red Steel 1 and 2. Marco Lienhard recorded several critically acclaimed CDs and has produced CDs for Taikoza and the East Winds Ensemble (award nominated Taikoza: Beginnings and Marco Lienhard Shakuhachi, etc.), which are available on iTunes, Cdbaby.com,MarcoLienhard.com or Taikoza.com. Please inquire about concerts, workshops and Skype lessons at: shaku8@mac.com.
Charles Wei-Ting Tang Born in Kaohsiung in Taiwan, Charles Tang began playing the piano when he was five. The Republic of China Ministry of Education recognized him as a “Gifted Child in the Performing Arts.” He moved to New York to continue his study of the piano and mastered the piano under Kathrine Parker and Martin Canin at the Juilliard School. He won the Gerald Tracy Competition and the McDonald Prize. Mr. Tang has been the artistic director, composer and performer of the Drum Spirit of China since 1997. He studied the koto in New York with Masayo Ishigure and he has performed on koto and piano with the East Winds Ensemble.
Here are the proposed songs we want to record:
Miyama Higurashi/ ／深山蜩-Shakuhachi 尺八
Tsukikusa No Yume／月草の夢 -Shakuhachi and Piano/尺八とピアノ
Kikyou Gensoukyoku ／桔梗幻想曲-Shakuhachi 尺八
Tabibito No Uta 旅人の唄-Shakuhachi 尺八
Tsubaki Saku Mura ／椿咲く村-Shakuhachi and Piano/尺八とピアノ
Yugure Gensoukyoku／夕暮れ幻想曲-Shakuhachi and Piano/尺八とピアノ
Shunrei ／春麗-Shakuhachi and Piano/尺八とピアノ
Tone No Funa Uta／利根の舟歌-Shakuhachi 尺八２本
Gekkou Routeki／月光弄笛-Shakuhachi and Piano/尺八とピアノ
Mushi Tsukiyo／蟲月夜-Shakuhachi 尺八
Fuefuki Doji ／笛吹童子-Shakuhachi 尺八１．８と３．６
Here is my website if you wan tho listen to some clips and know more about me:
Here is a sample from a previous CD: Shakuhachi and koto.
http://soundcloud.com/marco-lienhard/06-yuzuru
