koto

As the saying goes, “sometimes you have to travel far to see what is near”. Finnish kantele artist Eva Alkula and Japanese koto artist Tomoya Nakai have performed as a duo for nearly two decades. Their collaboration crystallises each artist’s identity as a musician and enables the birth of something new. The unique union of the distinct timbres of the kantele and the koto is “a match made in heaven”, even if the physical distance between Tokyo and Tampere remains 7,843 kilometres.

"During my three-month teaching period [in Japan], I learned greater respect for individuals who build bridges between cultures that are distant from each other, both geographically and mentally," writes composer Juha T. Koskinen. This column is part of the series where composers and musicians write about their music.