Kazue Sawai
Kazue Sawai is a Japanese koto player whose work centres on contemporary classical music and free improvisation, on both the thirteen-string koto and the deep bass koto.
She treats the instrument as a flexible modern voice as much as a traditional one, moving between lyrical line, stark austere textures and open improvisation. On record she shares bass-koto duets that can turn driving and hypnotic, and free trio work in which kotos are bowed as well as plucked, set beside violin, percussion and shakuhachi. As a soloist and with her ensemble she has worked with composers across Japan, North America and Europe, keeping the koto in active conversation with new writing.
Kazue Sawai is featured on the following titles
Like a Bird
Odamura's first CD, made after she settled in Australia in 1989 and brought the koto into contemporary performance here. Her playing is dramatic and engaging, joining traditional and modern techniques with equal conviction.
Composer