- Cloud Valley Music website -
- Andrew Cronshaw website -

- Andrew Cronshaw MySpace -



- Back to Reviews Introduction page -



Written in fRoots issue 263, 2005
 

BOOK

The Koto - A Traditional Instrument in Contemporary Japan
Henry Johnson

Hotei, ISBN 90-74822-63-0  £50.00 (2004)

All you could conceivably want to know about Japan’s iconic long zither, in a beautifully produced volume full of meticulous description and masses of detailed colour photos of every aspect. Johnson began to play the instrument at Dartington in 1985, continuing at the University of London and doing fieldwork in Japan. His labour of love covers history, variants, making, woods, mechanics, decorations, tuning, notation systems, performing contexts, playing techniques, traditions, terminology, bibliography and even the varieties of stand. It’s fairly expensive, but nothing in English comes close in completeness and quality of presentation. More details at www.kit.nl


© 2005 Andrew Cronshaw
 


You're welcome to quote from reviews on this site, but please credit the writer and fRoots.

Links:
fRoots -
The feature and review-packed UK-based monthly world roots music magazine in which these reviews were published, and by whose permission they're reproduced here.

It's not practical to give, and keep up to date, current contact details and sales sources for all the artists and labels in these reviews, but try Googling for them, and where possible buy direct from the artists.
CDRoots.com in the USA, run by Cliff Furnald, is a reliable and independent online retail source, with reviews, of many of the CDs in these reviews; it's connected to his excellent online magazine Rootsworld.com 


For more reviews click on the regions below

NORDIC        BALTIC        IBERIA (& islands)   

CENTRAL & EASTERN EUROPE, & CAUCASUS   

OTHER EUROPEAN        AMERICAS        OTHER, AND WORLD IN GENERAL


- Back to Reviews Introduction page -