The Art Of The Koto Vol. 1 - Nanae Yoshimura

I have now a few albums of Japanese Koto music. Nevertheless this is by far the best. The five pieces of music on the album come from the mid–17th and mid–19th century, roughly equating to the Edo period of Japanese history. For those uncertain exactly what a Koto is (admittedly, I’ve never seen one in the flesh!), it equates to a long zither with 13 strings and something of a convex body. It creates a clear, clipped sound that though does not necessarily sound like one, reminds one of very bare classical guitar music. It has the same clarity. It seems the pieces of music on this album are very much standards of the period, and available on many ...