Album Release: Paul Kikuchi’s Bat of No Bird Island

Zenkichi Kikuchi photo courtesy of Paul Kikuchi

Jack Straw Cultural Center
March 28, 2015, 12pm
4261 Roosevelt Way NE, Seattle
Free and open to the public

Seattle composer and percussionist Paul Kikuchi celebrates the multi-format release of his song cycle Bat of No Bird Island, inspired by the written memoir and 78RPM record collection of his great grandfather, Zenkichi Kikuchi.

The release event, held at the Jack Straw Cultural Center, is an opportunity for the public to dialogue with Kikuchi about the work and experience the recorded album and website for the first time. 

Kikuchi’s Bat of No Bird Island is a song-cycle that blends the textured and fragile sonic landscapes of Japanese 78RPM records, static and feedback generated by old walkie-talkies, and traditional instrumental composition in an exploration of identity, displacement, culture, and belonging.

In re-imagining songs from his great grandfather’s collection of Japanese 78RPM records from the 1930s and 1940s, Kikuchi has created a work that is both historic and modern. 

Bat of No Bird Island will be released on March 28 as a CD, a limited edition 10″ vinyl record, and a website.  Each format provides unique insight into the music, inspiration, and artifacts inherent in the piece. The CD features the full studio recordings from the project. The 10″ record (limited to 100 copies) pairs two of Kikuchi’s re-imaginations with the two original Japanese songs from which they drew inspiration. Finally, the website will provide more context in the form of memoir excerpts, photographs, and recordings from the original 78RPM records, while also deconstructing music from the album into short vignettes that will be paired with photos and writings.

Kikuchi will be in Japan for three months in Spring 2015 on a US-Japan Friendship Commission Creative Artist Fellowship. He will be continuing research for Bat of No Bird Island – visiting the farmhouse in which Zenkichi was born, researching music and traditional paper-making, and collecting field recordings.

The Bat of No Bird Island ensemble includes: Paul Kikuchi (percussion, walkie-talkie, composition), Stuart Dempster (trombone and conches), Bill Horist (guitar, walkie-talkie, and đàn nguyet), Tari Nelson-Zagar (violin), Eyvind Kang (viola), Maria Scherer Wilson (cello), and Rob Millis (78RPM records).

Paul’s work has been recognized and supported by The National Endowment for the Arts, 4Culture, Artist Trust, Chamber Music America, and the American Composers Forum, among others.  He is the founder and artistic director of Prefecture Music, an organization that supports contemporary music through performance, documentation, and education.

Bat of No Bird Island was made possible by Chamber Music America’s 2012 New Jazz Works: Commissioning and Ensemble Development program funded through the generosity of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Other support from Jack Straw Cultural Center and the Seattle Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs.

 – Courtesy of Paul Kikuchi

Zenkichi Kikuchi (1880-1965)

Zenkichi Kikuchi emigrated from Northern Honshu (Japan) in 1900.  After his arrival in the San Francisco Bay Area, Zenkichi worked farm labor for several years before resettling in the Yakima Valley in Eastern Washington. As one of the first wave of Japanese settlers in the area and an agricultural expert, Zenkichi was instrumental in encouraging young Japanese immigrants to settle in the Yakima Valley as farmers.

Zenkichi and his family were sent to a farm labor camp during WW2, returning to the Yakima valley after the war years. Late in his life Zenkichi wrote his memoir, in English.