Thank you everybody for your support!!

A set of pictures from the events posted here so far that includes some of the people around us who have joined our presentations and/or the after-parties!!





There are some other pictures from other events that were not included here, such as the Niigata Symphony Orchestra or with the wedding crew in Nagaoka or with a cello solo event at an Italian restaurant... and in Midori's case for her previous work as a Music Teacher in a Junior High School (Please feel free to include others that include friends you wish to aknowledge Mi)







Entry: AJ

Mitsubashi Nursery Schools !!

This time I had the chance to play at 2 Nursery Schools from the same owner.
This event was viewed by babies from a couple of months old to 6 years olds and a few parents..

On this opportunity I played cello solo, and it was quite a task since they are so tiny.
To my surprise, they were so attentive it was really hard to believe that I was playing for such a young crowd.

The main idea of this presentation was to take the kids through a world of music they know, to a classical world they can learn to understand ...or at least not fall asleep over!!
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Well, basically it worked this way;
First I played some Disney and Jibri they are familiar with (or at least the story line) and then moved into a little more dangerous waters with Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf" explaining the melody line for each character and then asking them to follow those themes in the main story. In the video you can hear some kids saying KOWAI! when the Wolf melody appears.. quite funny..
And at the end I played Swan (Saint Saenz) and asked them to make a story this time..
And also asked to remember the duck from Peter & Wolf's story to compare.
It worked out great!!

Next time I will try to get them a little more engaged by asking them to help me imitate the sound of the characters or for higher grades, asking them to act it out.
Well, I'm thinking out loud here, but I will consider some of this for next time.

Entry: AJ

What comes next for Azur Indian??

The sweet and sour news is that Midori San is going away from Japan. Sweet, since Midori, recieved a scholarship to study abroad at the United Nations Mandate University for Peace (clap, clap, clap..) and sour for the obvious reasons.. although, the Duo will go own with another pianist which I would like to introduce here: Hatsuki San !!
There's a video in this posting where you can see how nicely she handles the crowd.
.. I hope that the same rythm will prevail for Azur Indian.

On this note, I would like to state that AI is everybody that plays in it, and therefore, I hope that the new musicians that Midori encounters in her new postal code can be included in this blog as Azur Indian!!

Hoping to keep this blog going, I would like to present the latest event in Toyano High School, made possible thanks to a english student at the NHK cultural center where I teach.

The kids were gathered around in a 50 minute presentation that included a video in the background composed of theme pictures from Honduras in hopes to get some questions at the end of the music/speach performance. The pieces played this time included some Disney and Jibri themes but at the end mostly classical, since the level of the students is a little higher and you can present a variety that goes hand to hand with their music curriculum.

This time we are trying to stimulate all senses at the time to see what works best. The response from the kids was quite active, which is a lot to say for other presentations were it's usually not the case.
They came up with some interesting questions from the pictures and the presentation about Honduras.
I was really satisfied with this event!
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Entry: AJ

Repertoires that I want to try

1. Schumann, Fantasy Pieces 2nd movement
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAcvpFap8Ow

2. Franck, Cello sonata A-dur 4th movement
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vj_9OvG9pj4

Both pieces are played by Jacqueline Du Pre who was an English Cellist. Her talent bloomed when she was very young, however; she has past away when she was 42 years old. Her Stradivarius was inherited by Yoyo Ma later years.

For any musical instruments, if it is a quality one, the price comes along with it....! Or is it vice versa like expensive instruments makes quality sound?? Anyhow, Stradivarius must be with so many many many zeros on its price :))

String instruments always captures my inspiration and makes me feel like playing immedietly whenever I see. Then I always start playing it when I get this feeling, but the problem is my skill.....I cannot make beautiful sound at all!!!

When I was assigned to work in Zimbabwe in 2004, I bought a violin and brought it with me, because technically taking my piano was impossible :)). It is indeed easy to take to everywhere and I really appreciated during 2 years of my stay there.

I have always loved the violin since around 8 years old if I was not wrong, I would ask my mom to take me to violin lesson. I was already learning piano at that time, so my sister was taken to violin lesson instead :(.

I finally managed to start leaning the violin when I was 12 at junior high school. We had music class focusing on strings, and at the end of the year, we presented what we learnt in the graduation ceremony. I kept learning the violin in the following years in the same school and chose it as the second instrument in the university. But I had to admit that I started it too late. It's a little sad that I still haven't obtained natural playing posture regardless to the years of learning!

Suddenly AJ gave me a new violin for my birthday, and it was such a nice one for my level! Not only the violin itself, but also changed he to good strings. This encouraged me and made my motivation at the highest level and put myself to practice the violin more! So, now all I have to become is.....just to be good! The meister from a violin atelier we visited told me some tips when playing.

To talk to the violin gently "make a beautiful sound"....... :))

My favourite Vienna from a mountain♪

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すごく挑戦してみたい曲。

1. Schumann, Fantasy Pieces 2nd movement
（シューマン作曲、ファンタジー第2楽章）
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAcvpFap8Ow
この曲、なんだか「古きよき時代」って言葉が似合う・・・・。

2. Franck, Cello sonata A-dur 4th movement
（フランク作曲、チェロソナタ　ロ長調第4楽章）
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vj_9OvG9pj4

ここに載せた2つの映像はJacqueline Du Preが演奏しているもの。熱がこもった演奏が印象的です。ジャックリーンは幼いころからその才能を開花させたのですが、残念ながら病気のため42歳でこの世を去っています。ジャックリーンが使っていたストラディバリウスは後にヨーヨーマが使っているんですね！(Jacqueline Du Pre)

どんな楽器もだと思いますが、いい音がでるものはいいお値段がしますね。お値段がいいものはいい音を出してくれるのか・・・ストラディバリウスって億単位かな・・・・。


弦楽器を聞くと猛烈に弾きたくなる！（ピアノでも同じか・・・）

ジンバブエで音楽を教えることになったときにバイオリンを購入して行きましたが、なかなかの安物で（笑）。私の技術と相まってのこぎりのような音を出します。で、去年の誕生日にバイオリンをいただいたのですが、これがなかなステキな音を奏でてくれます。弦もいいものを張ってもらいました。あとはうまくなるだけ・・・・！楽器屋さん曰く、バイオリンに「きれいな音を奏でて～～」と語りかけながら弾くといいとか。

（珍しく二人で弦を弾いているところ@open mic）

ということで、上記二つの楽譜を購入しますーー！あとはクリックのみ♪

Entry: Midori

Niigata international film festival 14 Feb '10 にいがた国際映画祭

Niigata city's annual event "Niigata International Film Festival". This event brings interesting movie from all over the world, particularly from Asia region every year, and lasts for one week. And they have 20th anniversary this year! Congratulations!!

This event is organised by citizen volunteer, funded by the Niigata city. I can imagine how hard it is to organise such an event working together with all the involved people. Furthermore, it has lasted for 20 years, there must have been people's hard work, cooperation and struggling behind. However, the reason it lasts for so long is that people involved are enjoying all the process. It surely is a great event in terms of synthesising people and city.



We were honoured to be able to play in such a prominent event! The theme for this year was "Popular cinema music from 80's to 90's". Therefore our repertoires corresponded the request from the volunteer committee regarding this theme.

1、Unchained melody from Movie "Ghost".
2、Pretty Woman from Movie "Pretty Woman".
3、Shounen Jidai (=Boyhood) from Movie "Shounen jidai".
4、Manatsu no Kajitu (=Fruit in summertime) from Movie "Inamura Jane"
The event started with Shim san's (Niigata city's Korean translator from Pusan) leggiero MC, first Shim san introduced himself in Korean, Antarqui did it in Spanish, and I did it in Shona (the main language of Zimbabwe) which we surprised audiences. We could see many people from the stage including a lot of our friends! This really made me feel that our activity is supported by many many good friends.

This event was particularly important for Azur Indian as well, as it was officially going to be the last performance in Niigata. I really liked the 4th piece which was "Manatsu no Kajitsu (Fruit in summertime) because of the beautiful accompaniment line even for the piano part. As for the cello, it usually takes the role of melody line (which I envy!), but it usually does not happen to the piano when it comes to "accompaniment" not piano solo. So, I sometimes make a trick for my satisfaction when I do arrangements, I make piano part more melodic and insert a lot of accompaniment of the cello for the piano melody ;)). Did you notice?? Unfortunately I didn't do that for this event...

I came to Niigata from Sendai this time, because I already moved back to Sendai in December. This place has indeed become my second home and probably I will hold this special "LOVE" forever♪ It was very funny that my feet automatically headed to my old flat after getting off the bus or I bumped into friends on the bridge.... :)) Everything made me feel that I was home, but actually it was not anymore. Life always goes on like this, maybe it's needed when you wanna get something new in your life. It is a little melancholic, but this might be what everyone experiences more or less in order to move on.

From April on, I will move to Manila and afterwards to Costa Rica to do Master's degree in Peace Building at University for Peace (http://www.upeace.org/). My main focus will be Peace Making through Music. As for Antarqui, he remains in Niigata and continue this music project. If you have any request, please get in touch with him! The contact e-mail also does not change azur.indian@gmail.com


Entry: Midori(partially AJ)



新潟市で毎年行われている「にいがた国際映画祭」。普段映画館ではなかなか見れない映画もたくさんあります。そして今年は20周年記念！おめでとうございます。市民のみなさんの手で立ち上げて、作り上げるのは本当に大変なことだと思います。それが20回を迎えるのならなおさら。愛されている映画祭なんですね。さて、20周年記念ということで、80～90年代に流行った映画音楽を演奏させていただきました。

レパートリーは・・・・
1、アンチェインドメロディー （映画「ゴースト」より）
2、プリティーウーマン（映画「プリティーウーマン」より）
3、少年時代　（映画「少年時代」より）
4、真夏の果実　（映画「稲村ジェーン」より）

↓こちらビデオ。
Thank you for the post Mi! Sorry to cut off here but, I wanted to include the video for that event also. I hope the transitions from the excerpts included in the video are to people's liking. (stay tuned, since at the end of it there's a small interview about us)



軽快なシムさん（韓国からの国際交流員）の司会で始まったコンサート。ステージから見えるNext21ホールの客席にはたくさんの人！知っている顔もたくさん！私たちの演奏活動は周りの人に助けられているんだと改めて実感。

特に今回は私たちの活動の節目のコンサートということで、とても思い入れがありました。4曲目の真夏の果実、ピアノの伴奏はメロディックで弾き応えがありました。チェロは基本メロディーラインということもあり、美しいメロディーのものばかりでしたね。ちょっとうらやましい（笑）。今回はしませんでしたが、通常私がアレンジする場合は、ピアノにもスポットライトが当たるように編曲したりしています・・・・・。

今回、わたしは仙台からの遠征でしたが、新潟が第2の故郷になっていることを実感（笑）。バスセンターに到着して万代橋を渡り始めたところで自転車に乗った友達に出くわすわ、そのあと無意識に自分の前の住処に向かっているわ・・・・そして友達・知り合いたち。雪がまだまだ残り天気も悪かったですが（コンサート当日はなんと珍しく晴れていました！）私の心はほかほかでした。 「ありがとう、新潟！！！」

私は4月から国連平和大学修士課程に進学予定で日本を離れますが、アンタルキは新潟に残り演奏活動を続けます。演奏する機会などありましたが、ぜひお声がけ宜しくお願いします。連絡先は変わらず azur.indian@gmail.com です。



文責：みどり（と一部AJ)

Adv: Niigata Interntional Film Festival にいがた国際映画祭での演奏

Advertisement!!

We are playing for the "Niigata International Film Festival" on the 14th February 2010. It starts at 6:00 pm at Niigata citizen plaza on the 6th floor of Next 21. Please come and join us!

Niigata International Film Festival official site: http://www.info-niigata.or.jp/~eigasai/poster.html



告知！！！

2月に行われる「にいがた国際映画祭」の20周年ファン感謝デーで演奏させていただくことになりました。14日（日）18:00からNEXT21　6階の新潟市民プラザです。映画音楽を演奏します。是非お越しくださ～い。

にいがた国際映画祭公式HP：http://www.info-niigata.or.jp/~eigasai/poster.html

Christmas concert 9/Dec/09

Thank you for all coming to Azur Indian's christmas concert! We were honoured to have nearly 100 people in the hall!

Our opportunity of performance had been based on invitation we receive from entities, schools and etc, but this event became the first one in which we organised everything: lending the venue, setting the theme of the concert, what we play and show along this theme regarding music and International Understandings, advertisement, selling tickets with the BIG support
from Ms. Ishiyama from Yu's music.

(Thanks for Marco for this pic!)

Classical music = serious....
I always wanted to destroy this image of classical music and introduce fun appreciation part to more and more people. I wonder that audiences could feel it from the concert....? I hope so!

For the first piece, we picked Lalo's Cello Concerto 3rd movement. This piece is a memento for Antarqui, he played it for the graduation performance from the Victoriano music school back in Honduras, as well as playing for the audition for the Singapore National Orchestra in April. It has the combination of calmness and agitation, the agitation gives us a great motivation to express the music as mush as possible with energy con fuoco, on the other hand calmness parts encourage us to smooth down the intense part. This is well balanced in terms of combination of both! This is the reason I also like it, but at the same time this is extremely tough piece to play. Therefore, we were discussing whether or not to play it just a minute before the performance!

The followings were "Elegie" by Faure and "The Swan" by San-Saens. These two pieces helped us a lot, these were the most played ones in the past year.

And then, we had Piano Trio featuring with Mr. Hara from Niigata University. He graduated from the department of Education of Niigata University, and pursing his study on the Violin as a researcher in the Niigata University. He is normally quiet but when he says something, it always hits the right point which made me amuse a lot! Needless to say, his skill of Violin is wonderful, it was honoured to play with him. As a trio, we played "Reigen seliger Geister" by Glueck, "Ave Maria" by Schubert, "Salut d'amour" by Elgar.

Here comes my piano solo. The piano solo was something I did after a long time since we were always playing together in this past year. I brought "Arabesque" by Schumann which I had longed for playing for nearly 10 years. I was inspired by this piece at a concert which I went to in 1999, it was played by a pianist Minako Tsuruta who was based in Germany. She was a alumni of my school.

http://minakotsuruta.livedoor.biz/

The last repertoires for the first part of the concert ended with "Passacaglia" by the violin and the cello. This was composed by Johan Halvorsen and originally for the violin and the viola. It contains all kind of technique for the string instruments (playing 2 strings at the same time, Staccato(both by fingers and the b0w), Arpeggio, Flagioletto and so forth) with all kinds of tempo from Lento to Allegro. The following link is played by one guy, he plays both the violin and the cello, it's very interesting so have a look!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NseBdxfHk5k

(rehearsal at piano piano)

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The latter half of the concert.....

Coincidentally, there was a solo piano concert in the same hall by a prominent Japanese pianist, Hiroko Nakamura. I actually made a phone call to buy the ticket for this concert.... oops! :))

Thanks to those of kind people who came to our concert not to hers..... :) Here, we prepared something special which you can only hear from Azur Indian: "Presentation"! As for myself, I lived in Zimbabwe for two years to teach music, and as for Antarqui, he is from Honduras. So, we introduced these two countries.
As a consequence, the comments that we received after a few days regarding the presentation; "Central America was far away from Japan but I felt like the world is connected!"
"Hey, I became interested in Africa, and I am now watching TV series focusing on African continent every day!"
These comments were indeed important for us and indicate what we achieved; particularly, because our main purpose of this music project is to provide a chance to get to know other countries, regions and areas through our music.

After the presentation, we ended up this concert with Christmas medley and "O holy night" with the vocal. For the Christmas medley, it was arranged like jazz which was imported from the US. The codes and the rhythm were fun to play because they were unexpected (because we do not normally play the jazz!).

In the end, we are very thankful for Ms. Ishiyama who supported us by all means, booking the hall, making pamphlet and posters, selling tickets, organising everything in the hall during the concert.

Moreover, it was warm and wonderful moment to share the music with audiences. Because of these people who constantly support us, we feel Niigata is our home and this is why we can perform here. I cannot help saying thank you for all.

Note: The after-party lasted until 5am!

Entry: Midori
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クリスマスコンサートにきていただきありがとうございました！！お陰様で１００人近いお客さまと時間を共にすることができました。

常々”クラシックのコンサート”＝堅い・・・・というイメージをぶち破りたい（笑）と思っているのですが、そう感じていただけたかなぁ。

まずはLaloのCello concert第3楽章。これはアンタルキが音楽学校の卒業演奏で弾いた曲で、今年オーケストラの入団試験を受けるときにも選んだ曲。とにもかくにも激しさと静けさが混在する曲で、弾いても聞いてもバランスが取れるので、二人とも大好きな曲です。ただ難曲なので、本番直前までやるかやらないかで揉めました（笑）。一番最初に演奏したのも、ある意味賭けでした。思い切ってやってみてよかったです。
それからフォーレのエレジー、サンサーンスの白鳥、この2曲はこの１年間、いろんなところで演奏させていただきました。お世話になった２曲です。

そしてトリオ。ここではバイオリンの原さんにも入っていただきました。原さんは新潟大学の教育学部を卒業され現在は研究科で学ばれています。原さんは普段静かな方ですが（私が喋りすぎってのもありますが・・・）、要所要所で的確なコメントや発言をされる方。それがとってもおもしろい！ははは。そして素晴らしい腕の持ち主でもあります。原さんの美しいバイオリンに合わせてこちらもうっとり。GluckのReigen seliger Geister、SchubertのAve Maria、ElgerのSalut d'amour(愛の挨拶）の3曲。

その後、ピアノソロ、シューマンのアラベスク。これまでアンタルキがチェロソロをすることはありましたが、私がピアノソロを弾くのは初めて。この1年、ずっと伴奏専門でやってきたので、久々のソロにドキドキでした。この曲は大学1年生のときに行ったピアノのコンサートで初めて聞いた曲で、いつかやってみたいなと思っていたものです。ちなみに現在ドイツで活躍されている鶴田美奈子さんという方のコンサートで聞いたのでした。

http://minakotsuruta.livedoor.biz/

前半最後はバイオリンとチェロでPassacaglia。いろんな演奏技法が１曲の中に詰め込まれています。それらを駆使しながら音楽的にも高い表現力が求められるので、一筋縄にはいかないものです。ちなみにyoutubeにおもしろい画像があります。

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NseBdxfHk5k

･･･････････････・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

さて後半戦。
実は当日、同じ時間に同じ会場内でなんとあの中村紘子さまがコンサートをされていたんです！！！危うくチケット買うところでしたよ、私も・・・・・チケット購入の電話しちゃいましたからね・・・

中 村紘子さんではなく、Azur Indianを選択してくださった優しいみなさま！ありがとうございます。そんなみなさまに少しでもお土産を・・・・と思いついたのが、プレゼン。私は日 本人ですが、せっかくホンジュラス人と演奏活動をしているので、海の向こうの、それもあんまりメジャーではない国を身近に感じてもらえればと思いホンジュ ラスとジンバブエ（これは私が2年ほど住んでいた国）の紹介をしました。意外と好評！？
数日後会った方から「中米って遠くに感じていたけど、何だか世界は繋がってるんだなぁって感じたよ～」
「今BSでやっているアフリカの特集毎日見てるのよ～。アフリカにすごく興味を持っちゃって～」
というとっても嬉しいコメントをいただきました。ありがとう～～～

私たちが演奏活動を始めるきっかけとなったのも、音楽を通して世界を身近に感じてもらえるように・・・という思いだったので、今回はそのへんも達成できたんですね。

プ レゼンのあとは、クリスマスメドレー。まず歌を歌って(O holy night)、それからアメリカから輸入した楽譜を使用したトリオ。有名どころばかり入ったメドレーでしたが、リズムやコードが意外性でいっぱいの曲でし たが・・・・最後に温かいクリスマスの曲を持ってきたので楽しんで演奏することができました。伝わったかしら・・・・？

うだうだとコンサートの報告を書いてしまいましたが（一応記録のため）・・・・本当にたくさんの方々に来ていただき、コンサート後には温かいお言葉やプレゼントをいただき・・・・最高の夜でした！感謝感謝。みなさんに感謝です！！！
最後に・・・・コンサートの企画、運営をいつも支えてくださったYu's musicの石山さん、本当にありがとうございました！
そしてこの後打ち上げへ。朝5時まで続いたのでした・・・・・
文責：みどり

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Thanks for the post Mi,
Even though we couldn't work the camera to record the concert that night, here is a little video of us trying to set the camera at the event..