Amazing!
author: Carrie
I am new to koto music, and this CD is amazing. Beautiful, complex and full of emotion. Listen to it, and you’ll be hooked!
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Exquisite....a shower of singing raindrops.
author: Ed Ratledge
The poem I wrote after my first hearing, seems the best review for this compilation.....
Uruma....
it is rain...
and not rain....
this...
endlessness...
of separate....
drops....
come singly...
their...
arhythmic....
beat....
almost too...
clear....
and....
in a key...
each...
sings....
unto itself....
unique
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Wow! Breathtaking and beyond beautiful!
author: Kim
As someone who as always appreciated Japanese music, I couldn't resist buying this album. And it is beyond lovely. Each piece has it's own personality and distinctive and endearing qualities. The harmonies are truly mezmorizing, especially to the western ear where many of these sounds are seldom heard. These ladies are incredibly skilled musicians, and the energy force of each track simply shimmers with intensity. Truly amazing work! Highly recommended!
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Floating, flowing, at once with and without form
author: Joe Ross
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!
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