Newsletter

Dear friends and colleagues, here a small note about Hibari.  Thanks for reading, Ned McGowan

Hibari

It's been almost a full year now since the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.  Recovery and reconstruction has been well under way, but there is still much to do and much help needed.

There is a great musical initiative called Hibari, carried out by the "mmm…" musical collective in Tokyo.   100 composers have written works and each week the recordings of two can be downloaded in exchange for a donation. The donations made through this project will go to help children who were orphaned by the disaster, as well as elderly and disabled people who were affected by the earthquake, through the Asahi Shinbun newspaper's Social Welfare Organization.

This week features a work I wrote for flutist Reiko Manabe, co-founder of 'mmm…'  Called Torrent, it's a five minute piece which I improvised and then meticulously transcribed into musical notation from which Reiko then performed.  She did a great job - it's one thing to improvise it, but entirely something else to learn it note for note (and this piece has a lot of notes!).

I am happy if you can support the charity efforts of 'mmm…' and I am also happy if you hear Torrent. It will be available until Monday; after that two new pieces will be presented.

Thanks, Ned

Hibari

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRDpTEjumdo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-zfCBCq-8I&feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWzdgBNfhQU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QG8vLbYxmpQ