HIBAKUSHA! (Survivors)
from "Sansei Voices in the Community: Japanese American Musicians in California." by Susan M. Asai,
pg. 368-394
In The Music of Multicultural America
By Kip Lornell and Anne K. Rasmussen
HIBAKUSHA! (Survivors) was composed by Mark Izu.
The 1,000 Cranes Ensemble. Mark Izu - acoustic bass, sho (Japanese bamboo mouth organ), and sheng (Chinese mouth organ); Miya Masaoka - 21-string koto (Japanese plucked zither); George Lewis - trombone; Li Qichao - sheng, sona (Chinese oboe); Francis Wong - tenor sax, clarinet, ryuteki (Japanese transverse flute); Lee Yen - tenor sax, hichiriki (Japanses double reed wind pipe); Jim Norton - bassoon, flute; Glenn Horiuchi - piano, shamisen (Japanese three-string plucked lute); Kei Yamashita - violin; Vijay Iyer - violin; Jeff Lucas - cello; Jeff Song - electric bass; Anthony Brown - percussion; Julian Lang and Lyn Risling - Karok chanting
Movement III excerpt. Subtext: questions/the unborn, past/present/future. This is the beginning section of the movement featuring string quartet.
Movement IV excerpt. Subtext: understanding/coping/telling the story. This section features tenor saxophone, baritone-saxophone, hichiriki, shō, sheng, trombone, and djembe (African pressure drum). The music is based on a Japanses saibara song, a vocal piece from the court music repertoire about a fleeting moment of the ocean at Ise. Japanese court music influence encompasses use of the hichiriki and sho, melodic motives of the hichiriki imitated in the saxophone and trombone parts, and the gradually accelerating line of the djembe characterizing rhythms of the kakko ddrum.
Movement V excerpt. Subtext: healing/ritual. The sho and sheng begin this tranquil movement of resolution.
