大象传媒

Corey Mwamba shares free jazz and improvised music that bridges tradition and imagined future, including futozao-shamisen player Yumiko Tanaka as well as percussionist Camille ?maille in a trio with dieb13 (turntables) and Hans Koch (reeds).

Alongside her focused explorations of traditional Japanese music, Yumiko Tanaka has, since the 1990s, been part of a nexus of improvisers who play the futozao (wide neck) shamisen, a stringed instrument comprising a wooden body covered with animal or synthetic skin and a long neck on which strings are strung and plucked. With the music of Tayutauta (2004), her debut solo record which is re-released this month, Tanaka brought a variety of experimental techniques - including plucking, bowing and the use of "prepared" objects - into conversation with the sounds of the instrument’s heritage.

On the other side of the planet, a trio comprising Camille ?maille, dieb13 and Hans Koch get together for a live session in Biel, Switzerland. Their combined sonic gestures create otherworldly atmospheres charged with the tension and punctuated by the cries of Koch’s soprano saxophone. Plus there’s music from Brew featuring Miya Masaoka (koto, electronics), Reggie Workman (bass, percussion) and Gerry Hemingway (drums, electronics) whose approach fuses tradition and imagination.

Produced by Silvia Malnati
A Reduced Listening production for 大象传媒 Radio 3