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"The
Sound of Haiku"
|
|
Saturday,
September 6, 2008 from 11:00 a.m.
Bellevue Community College Main Campus GYM (G Bldg) [campus map] Stage |
| "The
Sound of Haiku" performed by Haiku Northwest
with music by Duo En (Elizabeth and John Falconer).
Enjoy this hour-long presentation of contemporary English-language
haiku about music and sound, read by four members of the Haiku Northwest
group (celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2008), with masterful koto
and shakuhachi accompaniment. |
| Duo EN |
|
|
(Photo
courtesy of Duo En)
|
John and Elizabeth Falconer met when they began studying Japanese in 1974. They fell in love with each other, then fell in love with Japan. They lived in Japan for over a decade, studying Japanese music from master teachers. Elizabeth holds a master's license in koto performance and a Ph.D. in International Education. John holds an MFA in Japanese Translation and an MA in Russian Literature. They have performed together in everything from international festivals to business events, and their music has been featured on NPR, network television programs, and in independent films. Their repertoire includes classical and traditional Japanese music and their own compositions and arrangements of jazz and popular songs. Duo En's creative and skillful blending of East and West is what makes them uniquely appealing across cultures. They make their home in a woodsy area on the outskirts of Seattle with their two sons. About the instruments: The shakuhachi (bamboo flute) is made from madake bamboo. It is an end-blown flute with five finger holes and an oblique mouthpiece carved into the end. It has a Zen tradition in Japan, has been used as an instrument of meditation since the 13 century and is also used for classical and contemporary music of all kinds. It has a haunting and contemplative natural sound. Its name derives from its length -one shaku, eight sun (ichi-shaku hachi-sun) - about 1.8 feet long The koto is the official national instrument of Japan. It is a thirteen-string classical instrument with a history of over a thousand years. It is about six feet long, made from Empress Tree (Paulownia) wood, and is hollow, with a sound hole underneath. It is called a "dragon" instrument because of its shape. The strings, once made of silk, are played with three ivory picks on the right hand, and the left hand is used to change the pitch and creating various effects and ornamentations. The music is closely associated with the love of nature found in traditional Japan. Further information on Duo En can be found at: www.duoen.com |
| Haiku Northwest |
Haiku Northwest celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2008. Founded in 1988 by Francine Porad, we are a regional group of the Haiku Society of America (www.hsa-haiku.org) and our members include both beginning and widely published haiku poets, translators, and theorists. In 2000, Haiku Northwest won the first place Merit Book Award for our anthology, To Find the Words. We meet monthly, usually in Bellevue, to share and discuss English-language haiku, senryu, and related poetry (including haibun, haiga, tanka, and sometimes renku). Our members pay close attention to the primary strategies of haiku, such as including a season word (kigo) and an equivalent to a cutting word (kireji) in poems that use primarily objective sensory imagery. Our activities this year have included featured readers at our meetings, a haiku performance with music at Folklife, facilitating a very popular haiku contest for the Washington Poets Association, hosting a national quarterly meeting of the Haiku Society of America at Seattle's Hugo House and a Haiku Day at Seattle's Japanese Garden, a haiku performance on KSER radio, special meetings and workshops, and other events. On the weekend of October 10 to 12, 2008, we will also be holding a haiku retreat in Seabeck, Washington. Everyone is welcome to our meetings and other events (nearly always free). For more information, please see our Web site at http://hometown.aol.com/WelchM/Haiku-Northwest.html (which includes an online anthology of haiku by our members), or contact Michael Dylan Welch at WelchM@aol.comor 206-240-0871 |
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