Konami & Koto: A Brief But Happy Addendum

There’s a special little treat ahead. It occurred to me after I published last night’s posting on the koto that there was no way for anyone to really appreciate this ancient instrument without actually seeing it in action.

So I’ve been combing YouTube and found a number of very nice videos demonstrating the instrument. I’m embedding the two best ones that I found.

This first is a pretty good 90 second demo by a young Japanese lady playing traditional koto music. She plays well, sounds quite similar to Tuesday’s Konami Ensemble, and give a good feel for what the instrument looks like and sounds like in action.

And then a special treat: 1 min 20 seconds of Chinese musician Bei Bei playing jazz on the koto – and is it good! I also found a number of videos of young kids playing Beatles music on the koto, so it is evidently used for more than just traditional music. I think watching these two very short videos will give you a greater appreciation for why I was so impressed.

Enjoy! (This is my first experiment at putting video in a post.  How'd I do?)