simon hutchinson

I just got back from Seoul and the performance of my piece “…of modesty and splendor” by the Contemporary Music Ensemble Korea. They did a wonderful job, and were incredibly hospitable to me while I was there.

I felt like a real composer.

I wasn’t allowed to take pictures in the hall, and I don’t have a recording of the performance yet. I’m not sure that I’ll be able to post an mp3 once I do, since the conditions of the competition were that the piece becomes property of CMEK for 3 years. I’ll ask them once they send it to me.

Anyway, for now this slightly blurry picture is the only document I have of the show!

One of my friends gave me this electronic copy of the brief NHK documentary segment about me that appeared last week.

So… this was ripped from a VHS using a G3 iMac [read: old computer]. The motion was already bad so I didn’t worry about encoding it at such a high quality. Supposedly they’re sending me a DVD of the show next week, and at that time I hope to encode it properly.

Warning: all Japanese!

Here are a couple videos from last weekend’s shamisen performance at Onikembai, a restaurant/bar in Kitakami. The video was taken by Speak Up’s manager, Akira Takahashi.

Watching me next to my teacher it looks like I use too much vibrato!

Download Tawara-Bushi (iPod-ready)

Download Ringo-Bushi (iPod-ready)

I’m hoping I’ll be able to UL a copy of my recent NHK segment sometime soon.

NHK Broadcast

Their will be a rebroadcast of the brief segment about me and my music which appeared on Hirukko Iwate on May 15th.

TVI (Television Iwate) Broadcast

My shamisen teacher, Satou Chouei, and I will appear on brief segment on a folk music program broadcast around the 6 northeastern prefectures of Japan.

NHK Broadcast

There will be a very brief section about my shamisen-playing and composition on the Iwate NHK program, “Hirukko IWATE.” The focus of the program is on ex-pats studying traditional Japanese (especially Iwate) arts.

Onikembai (American World), Kitakami, Iwate, Japan
Admission: Free

I’ll join Sato Choei and the Choei-Kai shamisen group for an evening of folk-songs from Tsugaru, the Northern Peninsula of Honshu.