Tsuyu no Yo : World of Dew - V. This world of dew is just a world of dew, and yet...

"Tsuyu no Yo: World of Dew" for Flute and Guitar explores the layers of narrative in a collection of Kobayashi Issa's haikus around "tsuyu", or "dew".

"Tsuyu no Yo", or "The World of Dew", is a Buddhist metaphor for the transience of life and material possessions. Issa, a Buddhist priest, believed in the fragility of this world. Being attached would ultimately lead to suffering. Yet even with this awareness, his heart mourned when his loved ones faded like the morning dew. Issa outlived his first wife and all three children she gave birth to. Throughout his life, he had great monetary instability and lost his house to a fire. Issa continued to retain a child-like simplicity in his poetry, often referencing plants and lower creatures.

Issa's beliefs reflects well the Japanese familarity and acceptance of natural disasters: "The cherry blossom is the most prized of all expressions of nature because it achieves such a brief perfection before falling carelessly", says Hugh Levinson in his report on the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan. "Tsuyu no Yo: World of Dew" delves into the Japanese cultural perspective on transience.


Performers:
Cynthia Folio - Flute
http://astro.temple.edu/~cfolio/
William Anderson - Guitar
http://www.williamanderson.us/



Kento Watanabe is a Japanese-Canadian composer whose works explore narrative between different cultures and the process of translation. His works are played regularly in the Northwest region. For more information or discussing commissions please go to: http://www.kentomusic.com/

Category:

Music

Tags:

• solo flute
• guitar
• japanese
• tsunami
• earthquake
• kobayashi issa
• cynthia folio
• william anderson