Furusato

5 minutes 41 seconds

The inspirational Furusoto is an amazing musical portrayal of devotion and nostalgia. Arranged by Kobialka/Kulberg/Michie, from the album World on a String.

Roughly translated, "furusato" means "home" or "hometown." Encompassed within the meaning of this word are also "home-sickness" and "nostalgia" for the place of one's youth. There is a sense of "longing" and "displacement" relating to the onset of modern times. This tune is notably diatonic, yet it is embraced by the Japanese, most of whose music is pentatonic. The Composer, Teichi Okano, was born in Tottori, Japan in 1878. He is best known for his children's songs written in the early 20th century.

It was the beautiful musical expressions of my dear colleague and friend Wong Wing Tsan that had deeply inspired the musical voyage of lushness arrangement on the album. His great inner peace with joyous artistry as a great pianist and performer, was of great inspiration for this musical presentation which I dedicate in his honor.

~Daniel Kobialka