Miekoshimizu's Blog

Stranger 2011

Mieko Shimizu — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 11:34:59 +0000

I went back to Japan this Xmas and New Year. It’d been three and half years. Every time I go back, I become like a stranger as I leave a big time gap between trips. As soon as I arrive Narita Airport, I get shocked by the fact that most of people I see are mainly Japanese, then I try to get on a train to the centre of Tokyo but can’t find a way without asking people. Luckily I speak Japanese. Things over there are getting more and more convenient and smart and stylish and I no longer can catch up with it after living in London for such a long time. Don’t even talk about famous hi-tech Japanese toilets. They are crazy. I am simply happy with any toilets as long as it’s clean. I was specially impressed by supermarkets this time. The quality is so high and you almost don’t need to eat out at all. Modern buildings and architectures are great but my favorite is traditional culture. My family took me to a very old New Year festival at the end of Miura Peninsular and I saw a Lion dance – a lion comes and dance around you and eat your bad luck, a Bell ceremony – hit a giant bell one hundred eight times to get rid of karma, village people serve every one new Sake to cerebrate a New Year. There are still plenty of old fashion things are reserved over there which makes me sigh of relief. Another favorite is Onsen, a hot spa from a volcano. I’m from Shizuoka county which is famous for Onsen. I went in a hot spa as many times as I could possible manage while my short holiday and had an old school massage and ate beautiful food and totally refreshed myself. Why do I go back to England? I don’t know. I might be a masochist and like to be tortured in a massive inconvenience. I just love London.

The Place 40th anniversary

Mieko Shimizu — Wed, 26 May 2010 15:24:35 +0000

It was the 40th anniversary of The Place and a special three nights event was organized. I made some music for my friend / choreographer, Aletta Collins who was directing / choreographing those nights. The content was kind of a British contemporary dance history. Mainly established pieces in the past were performed and in between small talks of people who contributed to the foundation of The Place were played as audio. I am a fan of contemporary dance but 70′s 80′s work seemed from long time ago and that made me think, is a contemporary dance still contemporary? Street Dance might have taken over? I liked Aletta’s piece as it wasn’t from a past and very fresh. Anyhow I love composing music for dance as dancers pick up small details in music and translate them into their own movement. Watching them actually dancing to each beat, note, noise that I created is a real satisfaction. While the 3 nights event were going on, the sky was totally clear and blue. Has summer arrived? I couldn’t help capturing the moment.

2010 Election Result & My B-day

Mieko Shimizu — Wed, 12 May 2010 14:02:45 +0000

Oh, my goodness………………………………………………….

By the way, today is my birthday!!!

Election 2010

Mieko Shimizu — Thu, 06 May 2010 10:39:47 +0000

I am going to vote later today. My decision’s solidity is about 90%. I won’t change my mind unless something mind blowing happens before I step into the polling station, which is highly unlikely. One moment, I asked myself what kind of things can blow my mind? Birds started singing in the undecided 10% forest. Since I live in Westminster, my vote will be almost wasted as this county is pretty one sided…..still I will vote as I believe that society is made bottom-up

and not top-down. Emergence theory.

Lost Monsters

Mieko Shimizu — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 10:53:51 +0000

I composed music and made sound design with my fellow composer, Peter Morris for a play called ‘Lost Monsters’@Liverpool Everyman (http://www.everymanplayhouse.com) directed by Matt Wild. It’s a historical theatre that produced many pronoun actors and actresses such as Julie Waters, Bill Naighy, Alan Bleasdale, Antony Sher, Bernard Hill etc. As soon as I read the script written by Laurence Wilson, I loved the story. Although there were many changes later on, specially the end was changed into a slightly disappointing conclusion, I always liked the darkness and hope in life of this play. It was a great challenge for me to create such a versatile music for this story from a dub-step to a classical piano piece. I specially enjoyed making a piece about ‘bumble bees’. Especially based on the fact that they are now disappearing from this world, I feel, it is throwing a big question mark at us human beings, “When are we going to realize what we are doing on earth?” I hope this play will come to London.

http://www.everymanplayhouse.com/news/full-story.asp?Article_ID=642,

http://www.chesterchronicle.co.uk/entertainment-chester/news-reviews/2009/05/21/joe-mcgann-rebecca-ryan-star-in-lost-monsters-at-liverpool-everyman-59067-23671432/

Ditto “Love”

Mieko Shimizu — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 10:01:42 +0000

Sraight after the ballet “Red Balloon” at the Royal Opera House, I had to create a track for a brand new event at the Round House “ Ditto”, which features new digital music and films, one off special event transmitted once only live online. There were some themes for the night and my slot was “Love”. I collaborated with dancer, Clara Barbera Tomas from Ballet Rambert and Nick Sutton from Full Fat Film. We were asked to do something with a track called “Jolene” by Dolly Parton so I chanted “Joleeeeeeeene” over my Dubstep/Drum’n Bass track. It was a quite contrast from my previous work “Red Balloon”. “It’s a healthy change….” commented one of my old mates. “Thanks”. Clara’s dance is so sharp like a leopard. Nick’s editing is so cool like ice cubes. I also met nice people there, which always makes me feel positive about life. As to my live performance at the Roundhouse on the 16th May, my laptop was slightly asleep and the sync was a bit late, but hey, it’s live!

Moondog 30th May 09

Mieko Shimizu — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 11:35:33 +0000

It was a night of Moondog at Barbican Centre. A saw player/ multi instrumentalist/producer David Coulter (obviously not the Scottish Formula One driver) introduced me to this project. I recited a poem by Louis Hardin (Moondog’s real name) and sung one of his tracks “ Fujiyama”. At first there was a big mental wall against this Japanese poem written by the peculiarly and extremely talented American composer, as it seemed to me it was a Western fantasy about Japanese spirits. I locked myself in the backstage room (luckily I had my own) and repeatedly chanted the piece on a box of salad and some drink to connect myself to it. Nothing happens for a while but eventually after 3 or 4 hours of practice, my mind went into the mode and I genuinely started feeling like a person who was separated from her beloved by death – which is what the poem is about. I enjoyed the night very much discovering Moondog’s work, especially when they were played by Britten Sinfonia conducted by André de Ridder. This orchestra had such a modern attitude especially with this funky German conductor.