Neo Archē - Pearls (2023)

Neo Archē explores new possibilities for ancient Japanese instruments only used in Gagaku ceremonial music (the shō mouth organ, the gaku-biwa lute, and the uchimono percussion set). We use the tuning, some melodic segments, and the modes of classical Gagaku, which often date back to almost a millennium, but with a contemporary sensibility, and a large part of our music is improvised. In Pearls we continue our experiments in improvised world/ambient music, this time with the contribution of guest artists (musicians, a poet, and a painter) from the US, Japan, and Italy. The result oscillates between free jazz and contemporary classical music, with touches of progressive rock.