Kaoru Watanabe - Néo (2016)

There is an intersection between nostalgia and ritual, where we can reminisce about ancient times and places which are distant from our present lives, but very close to our hearts – that place for me defines the Japanese notion natsukashisa, often translated as "nostalgia" or "a yearning for". Living in Japan for close to a decade, I fell deeply in love with various traditional musics that instilled in me a sense of natsukashisa just from hearing one note. My fascination with this feeling inspires my compositions for this album.

To anchor the intangibleness of natsukashisa, I bring in improvisation, a musical concept I am obsessed with. I continue to emulate individuals from the worlds of jazz, Indian classical, contemporary classical and beyond who are able to spontaneously create fully formed, emotionally resonant music, often over complex rhythmic and harmonic structures.

This album is a snapshot of my ongoing journey to seamlessly meld these two worlds - the natsukashisa of old Japan with the intricate and thoughtful acumen of musics from around the globe.

Néo (pronounced neh-oh) is the name of both the album as well as the ensemble that is performing the music with me. The characters for Néo 音緒 can be interpreted as "sound cord", the "beginning of sound" or even "unified sound". Appropriately, Néo also sounds like NEO, suggesting a new approach to these ancient instruments.

Personnel:
Kaoru Watanabe: shinobue, nohkan; ryuteki; taiko, percussion; Sayun Chang: taiko, percussion, vocals; Sumie Kaneko: shamisen, koto, vocals; Barbara Merjan: taiko, percussion; Fumi Tanakadate: taiko, percussion.