AARHUS JAZZ FESTIVAL
July 13 - 20 2024
Johanna Sulkunen / Michiyo Yagi (FI/JP) - Photo: Mirei Sakaki

Photo: Mirei Sakaki

Johanna Sulkunen / Michiyo Yagi (FI/JP)

19:30

95
Johanna Sulkunen (voc, electronics), Michiyo Yagi (koto, electronics)

Danish-Japanese Hybrid at the Crossroads of Jazz, Electronics, and Thousand-Year-Old Musical Traditions

Improvised music can create exchanges that reach far beyond borders and across time, language, and cultural origins. Thus, jazz music goes beyond tradition and becomes a platform where widely different musical backgrounds can create artistic breakthroughs and forge new paths for art – for both sender and receiver.

Johanna Sulkunen is a Danish-born Finnish composer, singer, improviser, and sound artist who has been making waves on the international scene of experimental improvised music since 2009, both through her own solo project, but also as a member of the vocal group IKI and through numerous national and international collaborations.

With several Danish Music Awards nominations, major festival gigs, and international collaborations in her portfolio, Johanna Sulkunen sets a new standard for how broadly one can work as an independent musician in the intersection between neoclassical experimental music, jazz, and electronic soundscapes.

In addition to her background in experimental improvised music, Johanna Sulkunen holds an MA in Anthropology from the University of Helsinki. Her background is expressed on several levels in her music, which is often exploratory in nature and deals with the human relationship to nature and cultural relations.

Michiyo Yagi is classically trained on the large Japanese string instrument koto and really found her footing during a stay in New York in the early 1990s. During this period, she was introduced to John Zorn, John Cage, and the local noise rock and free jazz scene.

The visit laid the foundation for what would become one of Japan's most internationally sought-after improvisers in the experimental field, and she has since worked with icons such as Peter Brötzmann, Keiji Haino, Otomo Yoshihide, Fred Frith, Paal Nilssen-Love, Steven Wilson, and others. Yagi has been a central figure in spreading the knowledge of koto and Japanese traditional improvised music in international contexts.

 


Read more about Johanna Sulkunen / Michiyo Yagi


Read more about Johanna Sulkunen / Michiyo Yagi


Organizer
turkis
60 21 08 11
Info/Ticket
Cover charge 95 DKK

Aarhus Jazz Festival

Godsbanen, Skovgaardsgade 3

DK-8000 Aarhus C