Mu:Arts - promoting music and culture from Japan and beyond

mu:arts specializes in promoting music,arts,culture, and life-style from Japan, presenting range of excellent artists and unique and innovative cultural events in the UK and Europe and beyond. With extensive knowledge of Japanese culture from traditional to contemporary, mu:arts facilitates creative cross-cultural collaborations.

What mu:arts offers?

1. Promotion/Presentation of music, arts, design and culture from Japan.

Traditional music: Tsugaru-shamisen, Jiuta, Shakuhachi, Koto, Shomyo, Gagaku, Taiko, Vocal music.
Contemporary music: J-pop, Enka, DJ, Electronics, Jazz, Fusion.
Performing Arts: Kabuki, Noh, Kagura, Bon Dance, Contemporary dance.
Theatre:
Visual Arts: Manga, Kamishibai (Paper theatre story-telling performance), Contemporary artists.
Game: Shogi (Japanese chess)
Design:
Life style: Japanese food and tea party

2. Production and Co-ordination of concerts, tours, cultural events and educational workshops.

3. Liaison for corporate sponsorship and fund-raising.

4. Consultation and Research on music, artists, market and cultural policy in Japan.

Between 2003 and 2008 mu:arts worked with following festivals and venues.

Istanbul International Festival, Peterborough Festival, Brighton Festival, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Little Chili Festival, WOMEX 2004 (Germany), Bath International Music Festival, Paleo festival (Switzerland), Istraetono Jazz Festival (Croatia), Zagreb World Music Festival (Croatia), FMM Festival (Portugal), City of London Festival, International Aberdeen Youth Festival, Brighton Children's Book Festival, Music Port Festival (Whitby), Chelsea Festival( London), Rain Forest Music Festival (Borneo) and others. Venus include Southbank Centre , ICA , Spitz, Ritzy Cinema, St. James Church London, LSO St. Lukes (London), Royal Pavilion Theatre (Llangollen, Wales), Asia House, Cadogan Hall, St Johns Smith Square, Tropentheare (Amsterdam), Rasa (Utrecht), and many others. mu:arts also organizen educational workshops for schools,arts organisations, and communities.

Artists mu:arts presented between 2003 and 2008

Akiko Fujii (Jiuta), Jun Fukamachi (piano), Motoki Hirai (piano), Shinichi Kinoshyita (Tsugaru-Shamisen), Yoko Nishi (Koto), Hiroshi Motofuji (Wadaiko), Michiyo Yagi (Koto), Sayuri Ono (Fue), Shunsuke Kimura (Tsugaru-Shamisen, Fue, Taiko), Jumei Tokumaru (Shakuhachi), Etsuko Takezawa (Koto), Sizzle Ohtaka (voice), Bichu Kagura(Kagura), Shichiseikai (Shomyo), Joji Hirota (percussion, Japanese folk song), London Bon Dancers, Hakodate Kodomo Kabuki Group, Setsubun Bean Unit, Shoji Segawa (professional Shogi players,) Tetsuya Chiba (Manga), Kiriko Kubo (Manga).

Akiko Yanagisawa (FRSA) studied Philosophy at Gakushuin University, Tokyo,and completed MA in Arts Management at City University, London. While studying in London, she broadened her interests from Western Classical music to the promotion of Japanese music in UK and Europe. Her first promotion of Japanese music in UK was with a Tsugaru-Shamisen group at "Matsuri" in Hyde Park as part of "Japan 2001". From 2002 to 2003, she received a bursary from the Agency for Cultural Affairs (Bunkacho) and conducted research on the perception of Japanese music in UK. She set up mu:arts in 2003.

A large island in the ocean east of China ...

"A large island lies in the ocean to the east of China. The skin of those islanders is white, their behavior elegant, their countries most refined..."

Marco Polo travelled through Asia and came back with stories of an undiscovered island country. More than 700 years have passed since then and Japan is rather better known to Westerners.

The Japanese have adopted a lot of culture from China and Korea in ancient and mediaeval times. In modern times we absorbed culture from Europe and the United States. In the 21st century we still continue to interpret them from our own perspective, fusing them with something completely different.

Japan is not a culture that has been, but one that is still in the process of generating itself, re-shaping itself into a new style; and it will continue to create new things without loosing links to the past. It is a culture in which - in a unique way - the old and the new co-exist.

With thanks to Heibonsha's 105 Key words for Understanding Japan