So, if you haven’t noticed by now, my work involves collaborations…of/with many different kinds of people, artists, places… I see collaborations as a medium to communicate with other artists, as well as with “non” (self-proclaimed)-artists and venues. So far here in Japan, I’ve played in small cafes, clubs, hip performing venues and even a rice warehouse. The International House of Japan, however, has so far been the icing on the cake, not just for it’s beautiful building and performing space, but also for the incredible garden, which also played a part in last week’s show with the Stringraphy Ensemble, the marvelous sho player Ko Ishikawa and the striking Hitomi Nakamura on hichiriki. As you can see here, strings were stretched all across the room, while Hitomi, Ko and I roamed between the strings. The packed house not only listened attentively, but later gleefully participated when encouraged to play the strings and percussion instruments… During the performance, the Stringraphy Ensemble, Ko, Hitomi and I accompanied the voice of Dr. Kumi Kato reciting poetry both in English and Japanese creating a link between the voice (our vocal chords, the strings across the room), the space, the instruments, the garden…and multiple other connecting threads. My greatest wish is that one collaboration will eventually unfold itself to become many other new kinds of collaborations…