Shomyo no kai-Voices of a Thousand Years
Shomyo is a treasured Japanese musical tradition going back 1200 years. With the aim of preserving and developing this tradition, leading figures from Japan’s two main Buddhist sects Shingon and Tendai formed the cross-denominational unit “A Shomyo Group of Four,” later changing the name to “Shomyo no kai-Voices of a Thousand Years.” From 1998 to 2016 the group gave regular annual performances at Spiral Hall in Tokyo, in concerts introducing classic Shomyo pieces as well as many new commissioned Shomyo works by distinguished composers. In 2014 the group undertook a well-received three-city American tour including New York to perform the contemporary Shomyo work “Sonbou no Toki (Life in an Autumn),” a requiem by Ushio Torikai for the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The group continues to explore the depths of the Shomyo tradition and its contemporary possibilities. CD releases include “A UN,” and “Sonbou no Toki (Life in an Autumn)” composed by Ushio Torikai and released on the Japan Traditional Cultures Foundation’s label.