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Regarding Yokohama Sankeien Viewing Festival ~ Enjoying music beyond genres

横浜三溪園観月会に寄せて〜ジャンルを超えて音を楽しむこと

I was born and raised in Yokohama, so there are some spots that I have been familiar with since I was a child. Yamashita Park, Marine Tower, Harbor View Hill Park, Nogeyama Zoo, a stylish Western-style building in Yamate, Sankeien Garden, a beautiful Japanese garden, Kamakura's majestic temples and shrines, and the coastline. When I was a child, it was a tourist destination that my parents would take me to play or on excursions, but after I started working in music, I went to Yamate Western Museum, British Museum, Berwick Hall, Erisman House, Bluff 18th Building, and Sankeien Garden. I get to play it often.

Yokohama has changed a lot since I was a child. I remember in my elementary school social studies class, the teacher pointed to Tokyo Bay near Sakuragicho and said, ``In the 21st century, a city will be built on this ocean.'' At the time, I thought, ``No way, it's on the sea?!'' But it turns out that a big, wonderful city has really been built on the sea. I believe that both new cities and old-fashioned streets and buildings, as well as valuable cultural assets, should be carefully preserved.

I am currently performing mainly in the unit Shanty Dragon (Kongo Tosho, saxophone/Akemi Hayashi, piano, composition, arrangement), and Shanty Dragon 3, which includes cellist Christopher Satoshi Gibson. Shanti Dragon's repertoire ranges from classical, popular, nursery rhymes, folk songs, film music, popular songs, and original songs, and we perform original arrangements of these songs.

Since I was a child, I have been going to my relatives' house in Kamakura for piano lessons. I studied under my relatives, Mr. Minoru Matsutani (1910-1995) and Mr. Midori Matsutani (1943-1994), and was able to come into contact with a variety of music, including classical music. I am grateful to both teachers for being able to enjoy and play music regardless of genre. Mr. Yu graduated from the University of the Arts (Tokyo School of Music), but apparently he led a jazz big band after the war, and was truly a pianist who could play a wide range of genres from classical to jazz. He also taught vocals, and produced many famous jazz vocalists such as Nancy Umeki, who won an Academy Award after coming to the United States, Ayako Hosokawa, Takako Ueno, Teruhisa Togo, Shigeo Maruyama, Mizue Yamazaki, and others. In the scene, Candies, Hiromi Ota and others were also mentored. One day during a piano lesson, someone handed me a sheet of music and said, ``Today, let's practice solfege (basic training centered on music reading in Western music learning)''. I remember seeing the music score for the first time and singing it visually to make sure I didn't make any mistakes. It was a new song by Hiromi Ota, and I later found out that the song was featured on a TV singing program (lol).It was a fun lesson that wasn't just about technique.
Mr. Midori is also a classical pianist who graduated from Tokyo University of the Arts and Berlin University of the Arts, but after returning from Germany he also focused a lot of his energy on playing contemporary music. Among the many recordings, the LP ``Rhapsody in Blue/Midori Matsutani Plays Gershwin'' (released on CD in 1997), released in the 1980s, is one of my favorite albums. This is a performance that perfectly expresses Gershwin's wonderful world, which combines classical and jazz atmospheres.

A moon viewing party will be held at Sankeien Garden this fall as well.
Sankeien Garden has a charming Japanese garden, beautiful seasonal flowers, and quaint old architecture, and is a nationally important cultural property, as well as a building designated as a tangible cultural property by Yokohama City. The trees, flowers, buildings, and spaces within the park are filled with a positive aura that will soothe your soul and make you feel happy every time you visit. There is a wonderful harmony between nature and architecture, and the beauty of the mid-autumn moon that appears above the three-storied pagoda seen from Rinshunkaku is indescribable in words. was.

This year's Sankeien Garden Moon Viewing Festival will be held from September 18th to 23rd. Every year, the Moon Viewing Party is attended by people of all ages, from children to the elderly. We hope that everyone will enjoy this year as well, and we will be performing songs related to the moon, nursery rhymes, movie music, anime songs, J-pop, Showa songs, and even Hiromi Ota's cotton handkerchief. This year's Moon Viewing Party will be performed by Shanti Dragon, and the performance will begin at 6:20pm on the 21st (Tuesday). Please come join us for a collaboration between a Japanese garden, the moon, and music.

【profile】

Shanti Dragon 3 / Shanti Dragon Trio
Shanti means "inner peace" in Sanskrit. Dragon is not a dragon as seen in the West, but a dragon that symbolizes powerful and auspicious power in Asia, and is the god of water.
Shantilly Dragon was originally a duo with piano Akemi Hayashi and saxophonist Kongou, but when cellist Christopher Satoshi Gibson, who was also Hayashi's piano and solfege student, joined the band, it was written as Shantilly Dragon 3.
This trio began with a Yokohama Art Museum Hall concert at Yokohama Art Live 2003, and the same year's recording of the CD/Yumefutaya composed entirely by Akemi Hayashi. In addition, he has been actively involved in volunteer performances at facilities for people with disabilities.
Christopher Satoshi Gibson left Japan and went to university in the United States, temporarily suspending the trio's activities, but after returning to Japan, he has been active in various scenes and rejoined Shanty Dragon in 2019. He resumed his activities as Shantae Dragon 3.

Akemi Hayashi (piano, composition and arrangement)

Pianist, composer, arranger. Born and residing in Yokohama.
From a young age, he began learning the piano and electronic organ, as well as studying piano with his relatives, Mr. Jo Matsutani and Mr. Midori Matsutani. Under the guidance of both of them, he was exposed to a wide range of music from classical to contemporary music, popular music, pops, and jazz, and began performing while attending music college.
After graduating from music college, he worked as a music classroom instructor at Yokohama Contemporary Conservatory and other schools, and taught solfege in the Yokohama City High School brass band, before establishing Maple Piano School (Isogo Ward, Yokohama City). Utilizing his career as a piano teacher and experience as a player, he strives to teach younger students from infants to adults.
He has performed at concerts sponsored by Yokohama City, Yamate Seiyokan (British Hall, Berwick Hall, Bluff 18th Building), Sankeien ``Kangetsu-kai Concert,'' Yokohama Jazz Promenade, and other concert halls and live houses in Yokohama and Tokyo. There is. He often performs original songs, and has released more than 100 original songs, including songs recorded on CD. He has released 5 CDs so far.
Volunteer performers also actively participate.

Christopher Satoshi Gibson (cello)

Born in Michigan, USA. Started playing cello at the age of 4. While in high school, he attended a summer program at Tanglewood, Indiana University, and Interlochen. After graduating from Yokohama International School, he entered Yale University in the United States in 2005, double majoring in philosophy and political science.
While in school, he passed an audition with cellist Aldo Parisot and studied cello with Ole Akahoshi of the Yale School of Music, Pierre Fournier's youngest pupil and longtime assistant to Janos Starker. He also studied chamber music with Wendy Sharp at the same conservatory. In 2009, won a prize at the same university's FOM competition. In the winter of 2012, when he won a prize at the International Performers Association Newcomer Audition, he received a compliment from one of the judges, violinist Narimichi Kawabata, who said, ``The performance allows you to enter the world of the song.''
In 2017, the “BACH Solo” unaccompanied cello recital series was held at Minato Mirai Small Hall, Tiara Koto, Tokorozawa Muse, and Suntory Hall “Blue Rose” under the sponsorship of NPO Emotion in Motion. He has collaborated with violinist Ikuko Kawai on TV Tokyo's "100 Years of Music" program recording and concerts, as well as at BLUE NOTE TOKYO (2020), Cerulean Tower Noh Theater (2019), and Mitsukoshi Theater (2018). Active mainly in Tokyo, Kamakura, Nagano, etc.

King Kongo (saxophone)

He started playing the saxophone at the age of 12 and studied under Hisatoshi Muta (President of the Japan Wind Band Instructors Association, former head of the Metropolitan Police Department Band) and Takashi Suda (Professor at Musashino College of Music). Joined Yanagisawa Wind Instruments Co., Ltd., one of the world's three largest saxophone manufacturers.
After working in musical instrument manufacturing, research, instructor, and management positions, he became independent. In 1995, he established Congo Saxophone Studio and began offering saxophone repair, lessons, and performance services. CD /OUR TRIBAL MUSIC released in 1997 won Jazz Life Magazine Best New Artist Award. After being appointed by the Yokohama City Board of Education, he served as an instructor at Yokohama City Minato Commercial High School for four years. In addition to concerts and recordings at Yokohama Museum of Art Hall, Minato Mirai Hall, Kanagawa Prefectural Music Hall, Sankeien, Yamate Western Museum, and other venues, we also perform at Yokohama City University Hospital and facilities for the disabled and welfare facilities in Tokyo, Kanagawa, Kyushu, and Hokuriku. We are also actively engaged in volunteer performance activities.
So far, he has collaborated with Japan's top musicians, visiting musicians from England, Italy, Switzerland, and France, as well as calligrapher Suisen Nakatani, butoh artist Kazuo Ohno, actor Suchiat Burnham Atkin, and reciter Mr. Kodama. Intangible cultural property holder Park Kiyo Mochizuki, and others. There are also many collaborations that transcend genres. He also teaches a citizen saxophone ensemble that plays mainly Bach's chorales.
Several CDs and DVDs have been released so far.

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