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Kwaidan
for shakuhachi and ensemble, 25', 2021

The staged composition Kwaidan was created in a dialogue with the theatrical director Viktorie Vášová and is the result of joint reflections on the collection of Japanese folklore ghost stories Kwaidan, written in 1904 by Lafcadio Hearn, especially the short story Rokurokubi.*

* A samurai who decides to leave his position to become a wandering monk meets evil spirits of the Rokurokubi on their journeys. They look like friendly people during the day, but at night their heads separated from their bodies fly through the landscape and become dangerous demons. The monk manages to overcome the evil forces and thus earns public recognition.

However, only indications of the situations that gave rise to the sound atmospheres are taken over. Their nonlinear chaining allows each listener to discover their own story, a passage through a dangerous landscape, a dive into the water, a nightmare or vice versa victory and glory. The composition is framed by quotes from the oldest traditional Honkyoku compositions for flute shakuhachi - Mukaiji Reibo (freely translated 'bell of the misty ocean') and Kokû Reibo ('bell in the empty skies'), which here represent the function of the narration of a wandering monk. There is also a distorted quotation from the well-known composition Etenraku from the Gagaku tradition - Japanese imperial court music. The composition was also influenced by some parts of the film Dreams of Akira Kurosawa.

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