Anders Jormin’s new Swedish-Japanese project returns the highly distinctive voice of Lena Willemark to ECM – it’s her first appearance on the label in more than a decade - and introduces koto player Karin Nakagawa. In this trio music the Japanese classical tradition and the stark, archaic sounds of the koto, allied to Jormin’s powerful and subtle bass playing, form a unique context for Lena’s sung poems, delivered in her native Älvdals-dialect. Traditions and non-idiomatic improvising are cross-referenced and new paths opened up in these compositions.

During the Meiji Restoration (1868-1912) a broad diffusion of Western music flowed into Japan, first in the form of military band music and. later, Protestant hymns. By 1900, recitals of piano, violin and song were quite popular. Composers like Prokofiev, and performers such as Heifetz, Kreisler and Segovia also encouraged this musical direction, which strongly followed German Romanticism and French Impressionism. The new Western repertoire found a place with the traditional Japanese music, hdgaku, and as the two traditions came in contact, a new and unique form of music emerged. One of the most fascinating developments in Japanese music was the introduction of new instruments in the south of Japan, and their metamorphosis as they migrated north via Kyoto and Tokyo. Several composers on this disc have focused on natural themes, with water being a favourite and obvious choice. The works have been chosen to give a sampling of the diversity of Japanese music, from the beautiful, traditional folk-songs to the complex and challenging multi-movement works, many of which evoke the traditional instruments, namely shakuhachi and koto.

"Baby Come Back" is one of those classic one-hit wonders of the '70s; the kind of breezy song that easily found its way to number one, and remained in the public consciousness for years later. It's the kind of song most listeners know when they hear it, yet they're not sure who it is – and, if they do know who it is, chances are, that's all they know. They know that Player is responsible for that song, and that's it. Few people realize that Player had another Top Ten hit with "This Time I'm in It for Love," or that both of their first two albums – 1977's Player and 1978's Danger Zone – reached the Top 40 and went gold. They had more success than most one-hit wonders, and it was deserved, since they epitomized what mainstream soft pop/rock was all about in the late '70s – and that was the sound of Los Angeles. "Baby Come Back" sat atop the pop singles chart for three weeks in early 1978.

The first commercial recordings from Asia were made in Japan in 1903 by Fred Gaisberg, the legendary producer and recording engineer who traveled the world making recordings for the Gramophone Company (later His Masters Voice). The recording industry barely existed at this time. Man’s ability to record and reproduce sound had only existed since 1877 (with the invention of Edison’s cylinder phonograph) and flat disc records, what we all collect and obsess over today, had only come into being in the late 1890s.

From boundary-pushing koto musicians to experimental jazz virtuosi, Japanese music has long embraced all things avant-garde. This Rough Guide highlights some of today’s key innovators whose individualism challenges the conformist perception of Japan.

Hard Rock band formed in 1965 in Hannover, Germany by Rudolf Schenker. They are a band who experimented with many styles of Rock music including 1970's Hard Rock and 1980's Hair / Glam Metal (Heavy Metal)…

Following the highly acclaimed Volume I, dig further into the Wamono sound - the cream of the Japanese jazz, funk, soul, rare groove and disco music developed throughout the years since the end of the sixties in Japan!

Music From Memory are excited to announce a special compilation that they’ve been working on for some time now; MFM053 – VA – Heisei No Oto – Japanese Left-field Pop From The CD Age (1989-1996). Compiled by long-time friends of the label, Eiji Taniguchi and Norio Sato, Heisei No Oto delves into a world of music released almost exclusively on CD and brings together a fascinating selection of discoveries from a little known and overlooked part of Japan’s musical history.

Mariya Takeuchi is a Japanese singer and songwriter. Regarded as an influential figure in the city pop genre, she is one of the best-selling music artists in Japan, having sold over 16 million records, and has received several accolades.