Jona Niederstadt

Being my second collaboration with lutenist Toyohiko Satoh, this CD was recorded in one of my favorite recording spaces, the small church of Schönemoor, near Bremen. Toyohiko’s wife, Chiyomi Yamada, had conceived this program of Japanese and European songs from the 16th and 17th century, a beautiful compilation with a long and fascinating story to it, which you can read yourself in the CD booklet 🙂
It was really interesting to work with those three musicians (David van Ooijen was playing theorbo). Chiyomi’s voice is so delicate and soft that sometimes the lute was almost covering her singing, which I have never experienced anywhere else. So we created a very silent music, delicate and fragile as a Japanese painting, or a flower arrangement. Photos for this one were taken by Toyohiko’s and Chiyomi’s daughter Miki Satoh near their home in southern Japan. It is an extraordinary place as you can see: http://www.carpediemrecords.de/en/kurofune-songs-from-the-black-ships (JN)