Aragaki Mutsumi: Okinawan Music for the 21st Century.

Photo: Jae Hong Kim

At the beginning of her solo concerts, Aragaki Mutsumi, invites her audiences to journey with her into another world of Okinawan music. It's a trip to her Okinawa, evoked by the sound of her expert sanshin playing, the broad expression of her voice and mesmeriizng atmospheres created by natural and electronic soundscapes with visual enhancement from films, photos and paintings, integrating these elements into a unique avant-garde performance.

Mutsumi studied sanshin and the island's classical art of singing under the school of two of the great masters of Okinawan traditions, Fukuhara Chouki and Fukuhara Kyouko.

Her mission now is to integrate the deep soul of Okinawan music into a contemporary setting without, as she says, 'losing its scent'. Aragaki Mutsumi is a guardian of her roots and a bold experimenter in one.