Accordion Koto

The marriage of the venerable accordion and elegant Japanese koto may strike some as strange bedfellows, but not to such masterful improvisers as Pauline Oliveros and Miya Masaoka. The way these instruments blend together and drift apart from one other in a natural and spiritual way seems perfectly conceived, because both of them play their instruments so unconventionally. Oliveros has always been interested in electronic accoutrements, and thus extracts an otherworldly sound that is incomparable. Masaoka's koto is not approached in a traditional way, and she utilizes extended techniques to make it sound guitar-like, percussive, and anything but imperial. This recording depicts a sound text of a full day's life cycle according to the two performers, and indicates how different their lives are from the rat race society of everyday normalcy. It surrounds a peace, tranquility, and harmonious balance of rural and meditative structures that enhance and bring order to what might otherwise seem chaotic. In short, it breathes organically, never forced or prodded, and always brings common sense and fresh ideas to the table. As you'd expect, "Daybreak" is serene and slow to develop and awaken, with Masaoka playing her instrument in a most atypical manner. As Masaoka is scratching and bowing the koto strings accompanied by the pensive accordion of Oliveros, the duo adopts the sound of a crow effectively, along with otherworldly waking birds. "Forenoon" is 24 and a half minutes in length, featuring very long and involved chattery conversations between the two. The very short "Afternoon" must be a late lunchtime snack, an accordion drone as the soup for a koto sandwich. "Twilight," at nearly 20 minutes, weaves the accordion and electronic enhancements into spiritual silver. It's meditational, as is much of the music Oliveros prefers in her deep listening concept, while Masaoka derives a danceable line with an ostinato bass riff, and some hyperactivity occurs in the sounds of the woodland. An overdue project according to the booklet, this pairing makes perfect sense, not at all as a duality, but as a unified whole of vintage elements turned into an innovative organ of beauty. ~ Michael G. Nastos, Rovi