Tando Kosaka is a veteran shakuhachi player. On this double CD set he plays and unusually for a shakuachi player sings on an album of minyo (folk) tunes, as opposed to classical repertroire. 45 tracks including new recordings.


Price:  £30.99

Kouno Kameyama is a master of the Yamada school of koto. Here he plays four classic tunes with fellow masters on shakuhachi (Keisuke Zenyoji), tsuzumi (Tazae Mochizuki) and fue (Toru Fukuhara). Up to the standard of performance and recording you would expect.


Price:  £18.99

One of the best known forms of Japanese music around the world is taiko drumming, as played by Kodo, Ondekoza and various drumming troupes based in Japan and cities in North America and Europe. This excellent compilation features taiko drumming styles from local festivals some with hayashi - background chanting- from northern Japan (Hokkaido) to eastern Japan as far as Yamanashi prefecture west of Tokyo.


Price:  £16.99

Volume 2 of the taiko drumming compilation from various local festivals features music and chanting from Tokyo all the way down to the spectacular eisa drumming style from Okinawa. Fascinating.


Price:  £16.99

Like Kodo, Rokuninkai are a dynamic taiko group based on an island. They are comprised of 11 players and perform hachijo-daiko, a style of taiko that originated on Hachijojima, an island situated south of Tokyo. 13 pulsating tracks.


Price:  £18.99

Two biwa players narrate an episode of 'Tairano Kiyomori' from the classic Tale of the Heike (Heike Monogatari). Mari Uehara plays Chikuzen biwa from Fukuoka and Seishu Suda plays Satsuma biwa from Kagoshima, with the accompaniment of yokobue (flute). Tale of the Heike was originally written for biwa accompaniment and tells the battles of the Taira and Minamoto clans. It set the standard by which many warriors vowed to live.


Price:  £18.99

Volume 2 of the episode from the classic biwa narritive 'Tale of the Heike'. The great biwa narrative tradition, heikebiwa, was founded during the Kamakura period afterwhich the Tale of the Heike became an important literary and musical genre. Excellent recording and performance of this classic tale.


Price:  £18.99

Volume 3 of the episode 'Tairano Kiyomori' from the biwa classic narrative, 'Tale of the Heike'. Heikebiwa was a very popular style of music. The themes of the Tale of the Heike encompassed bravery in battle and fidelity at home. It also provided a source of livelihood for blind biwa players.


Price:  £18.99

Part 4 and final part of the episode 'Tairano Kiyomori' from the classic narrative 'Tale of the Heike'. The common version is comprised of two hundred such episodes, themselves divided into phrases which have a fixed singing manner. Between these phrases other melodies are played on the biwa. The tempo and mode and each musical phrase are all strictly regulated. Heikebiwa played an extremely important role in the development of Japanese narrative music.


Price:  £18.99

Ever wondered what they are laughing about in traditional Japanese comedy? Now you can find out with a CD of rakugo or comic story telling, as this is in English! Rakugo dates back at least 400 years. The performer sits down or stands up surrounded by an audience, with whom he exchanges quips and interacts. The rakugo performer takes on several roles in a story, which often reflect 18th century Japanese culture and society. The monologue climaxes with a ochi (fall) or sage (lowering), whereby the wordplay is suddenly interrupted. This wonderful CD features three episodes, all told in English.


Price:  £15.99