ZEN Elements: Japanese and Contemporary Music

Trio of Japanese virtuosos and the Czech free jazz duo Annabelle Plum & Žaneta Vítová will perform in the Great Hall of the New Town Hall.
Akihito Obama, Kizan Kawamura and Reison Kuroda are part of a Japanese ensemble The Shakuhachi 5. They play Japanese contemporary and sacred music on shakuhachi bamboo flutes. Each player is a leading exponent of a different traditional, generations-long lineage. Together they are dedicated to new music and the search for contemporary musical expression. The programme featuring Japanese composers of the 20th and 21st centuries and the musical tradition of komuso monks based on Zen Buddhism will be performed at Prague’s New Town Hall.
The concert will be accompanied by the Czech duo Annabelle Plum & Žaneta Vítová. Their musical expression combines free-jazz spontaneity with poetic intimacy and minimalism. Their work revives and updates the Zen aesthetics of experiencing the present moment. The Czech shakuhachi master Marek Kimei Matvija will perform with them as a guest.
The concert is organised by NEIRO Association for Expanding Arts (organiser of the International Shakuhachi Festival Prague) in cooperation with the Arts Council Tokyo and the New Town Hall, with the support of the Ministry of Culture Czech Republic, the State Cultural Fund of the Czech Republic and the City of Prague.