, a Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese musician, studied koto

Koto (musical instrument)

The koto is a traditional Japanese stringed musical instrument, similar to the Chinese guzheng, the Mongolian yatga, the Korean gayageum and the Vietnamese đàn tranh. The koto is the national instrument of Japan. Koto are about length, and made from kiri wood...

 under the late Tadao Sawai, Kazue Sawai and Satomi Kurauchi, and graduated from the NHK Professional Training School for Traditional Musicians. Between 1989 and 1990 she was a visiting professor of Music at Wesleyan University

Wesleyan University

Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college founded in 1831 and located in Middletown, Connecticut. According to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Wesleyan is the only Baccalaureate College in the nation that emphasizes undergraduate instruction in the arts and...

 in Connecticut, U.S.A. During her tenure she premiered numerous modern compositions for koto and came under the influence of maverick American composers such as John Cage

John Cage

John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...

, Conlon Nancarrow

Conlon Nancarrow

Conlon Nancarrow was a United States-born composer who lived and worked in Mexico for most of his life. He became a Mexican citizen in 1955.Nancarrow is best remembered for the pieces he wrote for the player piano...

, and John Zorn

John Zorn

John Zorn is an American avant-garde composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. Zorn is a prolific artist: he has hundreds of album credits as performer, composer, or producer...

. Her solo koto CD Shizuku was produced by Zorn and released on the Tzadik

Tzadik Records

Tzadik Records is a record label based in New York City specialising in avant-garde and experimental music. The label was established by the eclectic composer and saxophonist John Zorn in 1995; Zorn is the executive producer of all Tzadik releases...

 label in 1999. In 2001 she recorded "Yural" with her koto ensemble Paulownia Crush for the East Works label. Under the auspices of the Japan Foundation

Japan Foundation

The was established in 1972 by an Act of the Japanese Diet as a special legal entity to undertake international dissemination of Japanese culture, and became an independent administrative institution under the jurisdiction of the Foreign Ministry of Japan on 1 October 2003 under the "Independent...

, Yagi toured Russia with this koto ensemble in the fall of 2004.

Biography

An eclectic performer, Yagi has made frequent appearances on Japanese TV and has performed at the Moers Jazz, Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville

Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville

The Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville is an annual international music festival held in Victoriaville, Quebec that showcases contemporary music.-External links:*...

, Archipel, Bang on a Can, Tokyo Summer, Vision, Punkt, Instal, and Music Unlimited Festivals. Yagi's koto has been featured in ex-Judy & Mary guitarist/singer Takuya's rock band, and she has recorded and performed with Ayumi Hamasaki

Ayumi Hamasaki

is a Japanese singer-songwriter, record producer, model, lyricist, and actress. Also called "Ayu" by her fans, Hamasaki has been dubbed the "Empress of Pop" because of her popularity and widespread influence in Japan and throughout Asia. Born and raised in Fukuoka, she moved to Tokyo at fourteen to...

, Japan's best-selling pop singer. She is a founding member of Kokoo, a trio which performs originals and progressive rock covers exclusively on traditional Japanese instruments, and was one-third of the avant-pop girl group Hoahio.

Yagi is one of the few improvising koto players on the international stage. She has performed with Mark Dresser

Mark Dresser

Mark Dresser is an American double bass player and composer.-Biography:He has performed and recorded with many of the luminaries of "new" jazz composition and improvisation. For ten years he performed with the Anthony Braxton Quartet, as well as diverse groups led by Ray Anderson, Tim Berne,...

, John Zorn, Peter Brötzmann

Peter Brötzmann

Peter Brötzmann is a German artist and free jazz saxophonist and clarinetist.Brötzmann is among the most important European free jazz musicians. His rough, lyrical timbre is easily recognized on his many recordings.-Early life:...

, Elliott Sharp

Elliott Sharp

Elliott Sharp is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, and performer.A central figure in the avant-garde and experimental music scene in New York City since the late 1970s, Sharp has released over eighty-five recordings ranging from blues, jazz, and orchestral music to noise, no wave rock,...

, Han Bennink

Han Bennink

Han Bennink is a Dutch jazz drummer and percussionist. On occasion his recordings have featured his playing on clarinet, violin, banjo and piano....

, Akira Sakata

Akira Sakata

Akira Sakata is a Japanese free jazz saxophonist.He trained as a marine biologist. He joined the Yamashita Yosuke Trio from 1972 till 1979 and toured internationally with them. In 1986, he performed with Last Exit with Bill Laswell. This performance was released as 1987's Noise of Trouble: Last...

, Kazuhisa Uchihashi

Kazuhisa Uchihashi

Kazuhisa Uchihashi is a Japanese guitarist involved in free improvisation music. Born in 1959 in Osaka, Uchihashi began to play the guitar at age 12, playing in various rock bands, though he later studied jazz music. In 1988 he joined the band the First Edition, and in 1990 formed the band...

 (Altered States), Natsuki Kido (Bondage Fruit), Fred Frith

Fred Frith

Fred Frith is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer and improvisor.Probably best known for his guitar work, Frith first came to attention as one of the founding members of the English avant-rock group Henry Cow. Frith was also a member of Art Bears, Massacre and Skeleton Crew...

, Chris Cutler

Chris Cutler

Chris Cutler is an English percussionist, composer, lyricist and music theorist. Best known for his work with English avant-rock group Henry Cow, Cutler was also a member and drummer of a number of other bands, including Art Bears, News from Babel, Pere Ubu and Gong/Mothergong...

, Otomo Yoshihide, Saadet Turkoz, Ned Rothenberg

Ned Rothenberg

Ned Rothenberg is an American multi-instrumentalist and composer. He specializes in woodwind instruments, including the alto saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet, flute, and shakuhachi...

, Hoppy Kamiyama

Hoppy Kamiyama

Hoppy Kamiyama is a Japanese keyboardist and music producer who has worked with artists such as eX-Girl, Bradford Reed, Bill Laswell, Jan Linton, Marc Ribot, Hugh Hopper/Elton Dean and Damo Suzuki.- Biography :...

, Samm Bennett

Samm Bennett

Samm Bennett , is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist.Samm Bennett is a singer and songwriter, a drummer and percussionist, and a player of string instruments such as the stick dulcimer and the diddley bow...

, Yuji Katsui (Rovo), Lauren Newton, Hans Reichel

Hans Reichel

Hans Reichel was a German improvisational guitarist, experimental luthier, inventor, and type designer.-Career:...

, Sabu Toyozumi, Mino Cinelu

Mino Cinelu

Mino Cinelu is a French musician. He plays multiple instruments. He is a composer, programmer and producer; and is most often associated primarily for his work as a jazz percussionist.-Biography:Cinelu was born in Saint-Cloud, Hauts-de-Seine...

, Satoko Fujii

Satoko Fujii

is a Japanese avant-garde jazz pianist and composer. Fujii started playing the piano at age 4, receiving classical training until she was 20, when she became interested in improvisation and jazz....

, Joëlle Léandre

Joëlle Léandre

Joëlle Léandre is a double bassist, vocalist, and composer active in new music and free improvisation....

, Tatsuya Yoshida

Yoshida Tatsuya

is a Japanese musician and composer who is the only consistent member of the renowned progressive rock duo Ruins, as well as Koenji Hyakkei...

 (Ruins), Bill Laswell

Bill Laswell

Bill Laswell is an American bassist, producer and record label owner....

, Kazutoki Umezu

Kazutoki Umezu

Kazutoki Umezu is a Japanese jazz saxophonist.He has performed with Tom Cora, Samm Bennett, Ruins, and Michiyo Yagi.-Video:*...

, Carl Stone

Carl Stone

Carl Stone is an American composer, primarily working in the field of live electronic music. His works have been performed in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, Australia, South America, and the Near East.Stone studied composition at the California Institute of the Arts with Morton...

, Kang Tae Hwan, Christian Marclay

Christian Marclay

Christian Marclay is a Swiss-American visual artist and composer.Marclay's work explores connections between sound, noise, photography, video, and film...

, Koichi Makigami, Zeena Parkins

Zeena Parkins

Zeena Parkins is a harpist active in rock music, free improvisation and jazz. Parkins plays standard harps, as well as several custom-made one-of-a kind electric harps; she also plays piano and accordion...

, Masahiko Sato, Billy Bang

Billy Bang

Billy Bang was an American free jazz violinist and composer.-Biography:...

, Keiji Haino

Keiji Haino

Keiji Haino born May 3, 1952 in Chiba, Japan, and currently residing in Tokyo, is a Japanese musician whose work has included rock, free improvisation, noise, singer-songwriter, solo percussion, psychedelic, minimalism and drone styles...

, Jason Roebke, Sachiko M

Sachiko M

Sachiko Matsubara, who usually records as Sachiko M, is a Japanese musician, but she considers herself to be a "non-musician".She was a member of Otomo Yoshihide's Ground Zero from 1994 to 1997, where she used a sampler. More recently, she has concentrated on music made from sine waves...

, Ingebrigt Håker Flaten

Ingebrigt Håker Flaten

Ingebrigt Håker Flaten is a Norwegian bassist active in the jazz and free jazz genres.-Selected Projects:*Atomic*Element*The Thing*Scorch Trio*Ingebrigt Håker Flaten Quintet-Major Collaborators:*Ken Vandermark*Joe McPhee...

, Paal Nilssen-Love

Paal Nilssen-Love

Paal Nilssen-Love is a Norwegian drummer active in the jazz and free jazz genres.Nilssen-Love was raised at a jazz club in Stavanger, run by his mother, and his father, who was also a drummer...

, MZN3 (Kjetil Møster, Per Zanussi, Kjell Nordeson), Chris Mosdell

Chris Mosdell

Chris Mosdell is a British lyricist, poet, author, composer, vocalist and illustrator, based in Tokyo, Japan, and Boulder, Colorado, USA.He has worked with a wide range of Japanese musicians and artists—the documentary Ink Music: In the Land of the Hundred-Tongued Lyricist bills him as the...

, Steven Wilson

Steven Wilson

Steven John Wilson is an English musician, best known as the founder, lead guitarist, singer and songwriter of progressive rock band Porcupine Tree...

 (Porcupine Tree

Porcupine Tree

Porcupine Tree is a progressive rock band formed by Steven Wilson in 1987 in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England. Their music is difficult to categorise, being associated with both psychedelic rock and progressive rock, yet having been influenced by trance, krautrock and ambient due to Steven...

), and many others.

Yagi's most recent recordings are Seventeen (Zipangu, 2005), entirely performed on the giant 17-string koto

17-string koto

The ' is a traditional Japanese musical instrument, a zither with seventeen strings. It is a variant of the koto, which traditionally has thirteen strings....

; Live! at SuperDeluxe (Idiolect/Bomba, 2006), a trio session with Flaten and Nilssen-Love; and the limited-edition "Head On" (Idiolect, 2008) as a member of the trio Brötzmann/Yagi/Nilssen-Love. Upcoming releases include a studio session with Dresser and Rothenberg, a duo with Sharp, the second Brötzmann/Yagi/Nilssen-Love CD, and a collaboration with guitarist Eivind Aarset

Eivind Aarset

Eivind Aarset is a Norwegian guitarist who has worked with artists such as Ray Charles, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Ute Lemper, Ketil Bjørnstad, Mike Mainieri, Arild Andersen, Abraham Laboriel, Dhafer Youssef and Django Bates and trumpeter Nils Petter Molvaer.His style is often associated with that of nu...

 and electronica artist Raymond C. Pellicer.

Discography

• 1999: Shizuku
• 2005: Seventeen
• 2010: Reflexions with Elliott Sharp
  Elliott Sharp
  Elliott Sharp is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, and performer.A central figure in the avant-garde and experimental music scene in New York City since the late 1970s, Sharp has released over eighty-five recordings ranging from blues, jazz, and orchestral music to noise, no wave rock,...
  
  

External links

• http://www.japanimprov.com/myagi
• http://www.myspace.com/hyperkoto
• http://michiyo-yagi.cocolog-nifty.com (blog in Japanese)