In the Gardens of Japan song cycle

In 2002, Kenny arrived in Japan and visited various traditional gardens throughout the country. He transformed his experiences of eight of these gardens into eight poems (subsequently published as In the Gardens of Japan: A Poem Sequence). Before he left Japan, he gave the poems to singer Mika Kimula to set to music and perform.

Mika introduced the poems to composer Kumiko Takahashi, who began to set them to music. After much trial and error, Kumiko recently completed all eight songs, with the English lyrics set for traditional Japanese instruments. It is significant to note that the year 2002 was also the year when the Japanese government reintroduced traditional Japanese music into the public school system, which for over 120 years had been focused completely on Western music.

On November 4, 2023, the Chihan Art Project in Izu, Japan, presented a performance of six of the eight songs from the In the Gardens of Japan song cycle. The performance was recorded.

At the same event was the premiere of Alison O’Daniel’s short film shot on location with Kenny in the eight gardens.

Performers: Mika Kimula (voice), Yasuko Satō (koto), Christopher Yohmei (shakuhachi), Ōchi Kadowaki (noh flute), Nobuhiro Kaneko (shamisen),

The Gardens in Japan Song Cycle is supported by the Canada Council for the Arts and the Chihan Art Project.