Most of what I have to say about this piece I put onto the
original web site,
but here's a bit more "behind the scenes" stuff:
The Japanese location recordings used in the piece came from these places:
- Akira Takaoka's "family cabin" in Nagano Prefecture
(photos)
- "Gods Pond", Izu peninsula
(photos)
- the balcony of our ryokan on the Izu peninsula
(photos)
- walking around the grounds of our ryokan on the Izu peninsula
(photos)
- monk chanting, Ryozen Kannon temple, Kyoto
(photos)
- Ryoan-ji temple, Kyoto
(photos)
- Nikko
(photos)
- Tokyo train station, street scenes
(photos)
I made a "fake" version of ...DESU to show the musicians the general
idea behind it, using MIDI instruments. It sounds pretty goofy, but
here it is: