Customer Reviews

Taka

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When you hear the koto, certain images of my native country, Japan, often drift into the listener's mind. But to my surprise, it was not in this ideal Japan, but rather in Seattle, that I've been able to seriously enjoy koto music.

The first time I saw Taka Koto at Seattle's Folklife festival, I was deeply moved by the spirit and soul of the group. Taka Koto's first CD is successfully able to bring about the same feelings of peacefulness and nostalgia that I felt at their live performance.

Even though there is only one instrument, each song, played by this septet, is full of both sound and expression. I only have to close my eyes and each song's scene instantly floats into my mind. Taka Koto adds new energy to the ancient sounds of this 13-string instrument when they realistically mimic the sounds of nature, wind and rain. This ability to bring fresh sounds to a traditional instrument keeps me attentive and interested while listening to this CD. Each new sound leads me to new visions and inspirations.

The koto's sound fills me with homesick nostalgia and makes me realize how much I have taken for granted the sound of this traditional Japanese instrument. I highly recommend this CD and know that you, too, will enjoy this CD time and time again.

I first heard the Taka Koto Ensemble at an open-air concert where their music and orchestrations captured the essence of spring breezes. I purchased the cd that night from one of the members of the ensemble and have enjoyed it regularly since then. The sounds created in the pieces are vibrant, sensual, fresh and soothing. The ensemble propels the listener through planes of flight and fantasy with their astonishing rhythms and syncopations. Each cut on the cd has it's own personality and each is moving and entrancing and collectively they take you on an extraordinary journey of spiritual magnitude. Immerse yourself with headphones and feel each of the ensemble's fingers plucking and strumming on chords sent from the heavens. The creatively of the ensemble with this traditional instrument makes this cd a must have for any music lovers collection!This cd ranks up there with the music of Kitaro, Jean Michel Jarre, and Yanni.

As a U.S. military family living in Japan for the past 5 years, I am very familiar with the sounds of Japan. My daughter has been attending Japanese school for 2 years and has been taking koto lessons. From the beginning, she has loved the koto and music in general. She talks about koto lessons nonstop. I decided it was important to learn about the koto myself, and this was the first CD I purchased (in addition to hours and hours of reading about the instrument itself) and I just absolutely love this music! Since my daughter is as culturally "Japanese" as she is "American," we often switch gears in our home and practice Japanese customs - for instance, having a Japanese dinner (we have mastered chopsticks) sitting on the floor and my daughter saying the Japanese "blessing" thing that they say before they eat at school - and we like to listen to this type of music during dinners like that. This is such beautiful music! I was so shocked to learn that the players are in Seattle. Nonetheless, the music is as beautiful as Japan.

The Japanese word "taka" means "falcon" or "hawk," and this Seattle-based group of seven koto players give us extraordinary contemporary compositions that epitomize the freedom of a raptor in flight. The group also takes its name from the opening piece, "Taka," composed by koto master Tadao Sawai who also penned "Uruma," an historic name for the island of Okinawa. The four pieces from the Taka Ensemble's director, Elizabeth Falconer, embody the spirit of meditative Japanese music -- simultaneously floating, flowing, at once with and without form. The joy of this album is to tune in and listen to the music in each fleeting moment, rather than to expect each piece to slowly intensify until it reaches some culminating sound or passage. A very pleasant aural journey! (Joe Ross, Roseburg, OR.)

I first heard the Taka Koto Ensemble at an open-air concert where their music and orchestrations captured the essence of spring breezes. I purchased the cd that night from one of the members of the ensemble and have enjoyed it regularly since then. The sounds created in the pieces are vibrant, sensual, fresh and soothing. The ensemble propels the listener through planes of flight and fantasy with their astonishing rhythms and syncopations. Each cut on the cd has it's own personality and each is moving and entrancing and collectively they take you on an extraordinary journey of spiritual magnitude. Immerse yourself with headphones and feel each of the ensemble's fingers plucking and strumming on chords sent from the heavens. The creatively of the ensemble with this traditional instrument makes this cd a must have for any music lovers collection!This cd ranks up there with the music of Kitaro, Jean Michel Jarre, and Yanni.