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Hiromitsu Agatsuma's Beams. One compact disc, 44 minutes, with 4-page booklet containing notes and pictures. Produced by Hiromitsu Agatsuma, Tetsuro Kadoya (Far East Music), Kazumi Harasawa (Toshiba Emi), and Seiichi Kyoda (Maya Factory). Recorded at Studio Terra, Burnish Stone, and Heart Beat & Crescente Studio by Masahi Kudo & Kenji Igarashi. Mixed by Masahi Kudo. Mastered by Tohru Kotetsu. Domo Records (USA), Executive Producer, Eiichi Naito, and Toshiba EMI (JAPAN), Executive Producers, Seizo Shimokobe and Hitoshi Namekata, DOMO 73013-2.
The three-string Japanese lute, shamisen, has long been a mainstay of both classical and folk forms of music within Japan, inhabiting such distinct spaces as national art theaters and back street folk music bars in its various forms. The instrument itself is versatile, allowing for tremendous bends, glissandos and pizzicato effects with its sleek, fretless neck, malleable strings, and large plectrum striking the skin-covered body. Though many varieties of shamisen and related performance genres exist, perhaps none is livelier nor more recognized amongst the folk genres than tsugaru-shamisen. (For additional information on shamisen and related repertoires see De Ferranti 2000, Kishibe 1984, Malm 2000, and McQueen Tokita 1999). The young performer, Hiromitsu Agatsuma, draws on the vibrancy of this style in combination with elements of light jazz, rock and electronica in his recent album, Beams, once again revealing the versatility of this interesting instrument.
Hiromitsu Agatsuma himself has won numerous awards in prestigious tsugaru-shamisen competitions, including top honors at the All-Japan Tsugaru-Shamisen Competition in Kanagicho in 1988 at the age of 14 and two Tsugaru-Shamisen National Competitions in Hirosaki in 1995 and 1996; in addition, he received the "Album of the Year" award for his self-titled debut album in 2001 at the Japan Gold Disc Awards. (For additional biographical information see booklet notes and http://www.domo.com/Pages/Agatsuma/OnlinePR.htm). This disk, his second project, is intriguing in its combination of traditional performance technique and musical elements from popular genres, perhaps inspiring a new generation of potential devotees to the shamisen with the resultant sound, as he joins a growing number of...