Katsura Yamauchi : HoFuNeM山内 桂 HoFuNeM

"Katsura Yamauchi is really both a new and a veteran artist... I am greatly refreshed by his energetic and confident performance." - Otomo Yoshihide, July 2003 Live: Yamauchi Katsura (Salmosax) Film Screening: "HoFuNeM" (2012) Guest: Pearl Alexander Solo HoFuNeM Director: Katsura Yamauchi 40 min. 2012, without words Music: Katsura Yamauchi I have no story for this movie. Theme song "KAGE" has no word. But you maybe find a message in it. I think the movie expresses the future through showing the starting point, and our sense of values will change soon. We have to hold an answer now. A fairy of water is the symbol of the nature. She sings(no meaning) and shows us a universe. And we see contrast of an end, hope and beauty, ugliness and stability, destruction and a man, a woman, the sun, the moon, etc. I've spent so lomg time in mountains, woods and rivers, and I experienced surprising spectacles there in my life. And I made a small photo album of water. After that, I decided to make movie of water using my music. Then I went to my favorite river etc. for four seasons for two years. I got many pictures that water gave me as presents. I chose and put them. They are my impulses and impressions which came from water and universe. This movie which is not concreteness or abstraction, either was completed. Katsura Yamauchi  Born 1954. Katsura Yamauchi picked up his first saxophone in the early 1970s and was quickly drawn to modern jazz, avant-garde and free improvisation. Born in Beppu, far from the traditional creative centers around the bigger cities of Japan, Yamauchi was until recently relatively unknown, but has now shown himself to be one of the most unique musicians in Japan. For years Katsura Yamauchi was sporadically active as both musician and concert organizer and helped arrange performances in Japan for veteran musicians from both the USA and Europe, such as Derek Bailey, Peter Brötzmann and Milford Graves. Not until 2002 did he quit his regular job to dedicate himself fully to music. Yamauchi was influenced by the new experimental sounds coming from Tokyo, but had developed his own original style, mixing improvisation and minimalism with melodic elements. The music is at the same time challenging and easily accessible, unrecognizable and beautiful. Katsura Yamauchi has released several solo CDs and recorded with Michel Doneda, Gunter Müller and Norbert Möslang from Voice Crack and performed with Taku Unami, I.S.O., Misha Mengelberg, Tatsuya Nakatani, Sharif Sehnaoui, Jason Kahn, Otomo Yoshihide, sachiko M, Barre Phillips, Kim Dae-Hwan, Gino Robair, Toshinori Kondo, Yoshimitsu Ichiraku, Travassos, Toshimaru Nakamura, Seijiro Murayama, Han Bennink and many others. In addition to extensive activity in Japan, Katsura Yamauchi has toured the USA and several times in Europe. He has performed at many international festivals, including Musique Innovatrices, Castello Canalis, Beppu Contemporary Art Festival, Ftarri Festival, Amplify Festival and Asian Meeting Festival. [Katsura Yamauchi - Salmosax](http://www.salmosax.com/) [Katsura Yamauchi - Releases](http://www.salmosax.com/mc.html) What's Salmo? Salmo : the salmon family in Latin. They return from sea to river, it means a symbol of circulation. They are beautiful, strong, fast, timid and wise. The symbolic word is "Determination" by the native people in North America. Salmo : the Book of (150) Psalms of the Old Testament. Salmo (Italian, Spanish), Psalm (English, German), Psaume (French), Psalmi (Latin) What's salmosax? The musical world of Katsura Yamauchi. Pearl Alexander  Born in 1982. A graduate of University of Michigan where she studied double bass performance under Diana Gannett. Living near Tokyo since 2009, she has collaborated with wide variety of musicians and dancers including Toshimaru Nakamura, Carl Stone, Hiromichi Sakamoto, Yuji Katsui, Jean Sasportes and Tetsu Saitoh, among others. She performed on Tetsu Saitoh's bass ensemble GEN311 DVD released on the Kadima Collective Label. She played on two modern music recordings while at the University of Michigan. One of those recordings, Songs of Innocence and Experience conducted by Leonard Slatkin, won 3 Grammy Awards in 2006.