Akira Ifukube: Gilyak Songs Chiyomi Yamada

• Akira Ifukube (1914 - 2006): Ancient Folk Songs of Gilyak Tribes:
• 1 Ifukube: Ancient Folk Songs of Gilyak Tribes: No. 1, Ai ai gomteira 02:08
• 2 Ifukube: Ancient Folk Songs of Gilyak Tribes: No. 2, Ujungajujana 04:53
• 3 Ifukube: Ancient Folk Songs of Gilyak Tribes: No. 3, Takkar 04:51
• 4 Ifukube: Ancient Folk Songs of Gilyak Tribes: No. 4, Lokoru ja 06:03
• Toka:
• 5 Ifukube: Toka 19:47
• Three Lullabies:
• 6 Ifukube: Three Lullabies: No. 1, Bulu bulu 06:02
• 7 Ifukube: Three Lullabies: No. 2, Buppun lu 03:58
• 8 Ifukube: Three Lullabies: No. 3, Umpri ja ja 02:07
• Total Runtime 49:49

Info for Akira Ifukube: Gilyak Songs

Piano songs by the Japanese composer Akira Ifukube (1914–2006), interpreted by Chiyomi Yamada, voice, and Reiko Yamada, piano.

Ifukube, who also composed the theme song of “Godzilla”, wrote these magical pieces based on traditional songs from native tribes of northern Japan. The sound and style of this music are somewhere between western contemporary and eastern traditional music, creating a unique fusion of musical and aesthetic elements.

The piano songs are complemented with an epic piece for classical guitar solo by Ifukube, played by the Dutch guitarist David van Ooijen.

Chiyomi Yamada, soprano
Reiko Yamada, piano

Chiyomi Yamada
was born in 1956 in Fukuoka, Japan. After her graduation from Music College in Tokyo she went to The Netherlands to study Baroque music at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague with Marius van Altena and Dr. Rebecca Stewart. Soon she became a member of the Renaissance cappellae of Dr. Stewart and began to give concerts. This early experience has continued to be influential in shaping Miss Yamada's ideas about Renaissance polyphony and Gregorian chant. In addition she became the vocalist of 'Alba Musica Kyo' directed by Toyohiko Satoh. With this group she performed in festivals in The Netherlands, Belgium, Hungary, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Canada. In 1983 Miss Yamada traveled throughout Canada as a music envoy of the Japanese government, in 1985 she gave a concert at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. Her particular combination of musicality, intelligence, vocal clarity and delicacy continued to please her various audiences and ensured her acceptance within the world of early music.

Her CD's include the following: 'Two Orphean Masters' (Dowland and Purcell), 'Music in Dejima', 'Love and Musical Drama (early Italian Baroque music) , 'Works of Toyohiko Satoh' (I and II), 'Landini & his time', 'Machaut & his time', 'Music of Shakespeare', 'Dawn to the West' (Japanese songs) .

Since 2002 Miss Yamada has been living in Japan, where she has been developing a new project on the shared Japanese-European cultural history. And in 2010, she recorded the CD 'KUROFUNE', 2016, ’Yugen’ Toyohiko Satoh for Carpe Diem Records.

Booklet for Akira Ifukube: Gilyak Songs