all performed by ryoko akama
designed by stephen harvey
‘senu hima’
It was August 2014 when I asked four composers to send me new or existing scores for a possible solo album, senu hima. A year of contemplating, communicating and nurturing ideas has eventually created this release as melange edition 03.
‘senu hima’ is a traditional art concept derived from Noh culture in Japan in which where nothing is (silence, gap, space, absence etc) is explored as the most important passage of works. As if opposing to my anticipation, I was given scores that requested me to ‘perform’ actively with sequences, numbers and certain rules. It was a challenge for me to come up with my correspondence to the scores but somehow I discovered how I could propose my performance in relation to the pieces. With these propositions that score suggested, I attempted a way to establish a fine balance between where there is and where there is nothing. As a result, this has become the strangest, qwertiest and the most loving album for me. / ryoko akama
