Album Notes

"Moon Drops"
is the 2nd. solo album of Hiroko Ara,
a kantele player, composer in Japan.
The Kantele, a beautiful traditional instrument from Finland
has angelic sound and rich resonance and Hiroko plays
it softly and relaxing way.

It includes 12 beautiful and colorful tracks,
10 of them are Hiroko's new compositions
and others are traditional tunes from Finland.
Hiroko's compositions are melodious and imaginative,
some are improvisation-colored, some taste like
old cinema music, and some are feel like
Scandinavian traditional tunes.

Hiroko plays 39 strings concert kantele
and 5 strings nylon-hair kantele in this album.
Not only solo but also play with her close musicians;
Toru Ogiyanagi(folk flutes), Haruhiko Saga(morinhuur - Mongolian horse-hair fiddle) and Masaharu Iida(Acoustic bass).