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Photo by: ARAGAKI Mutsumi
About: 2016 NEW NARRATIVES FILM FESTIVAL in Taipei, Taiwan
Photo by: ARAGAKI Mutsumi
About: 2016 NEW NARRATIVES FILM FESTIVAL in Taipei, Taiwan
Photo by: ARAGAKI Mutsumi
About: MKR Project @Ginoza village festival, Okinawa, Japan 2015.10.24
Photo by: ARAGAKI Mutsumi
About: MKR Project @Sakurazaka Music from the world vol.3, Okinawa, Japan 2015.10.7
ABOUT
Okinawan classic vocal, vocal, sanshin, effect, electronics, audiovisual

https://www.aragakimutsumi.com An artist from Okinawa, Japan, who enchants her audiences with her soulful voice and her exquisite playing of the traditional string instrument Sanshin. Her deeply-rooted avant-garde sounds are merged with experimental visuals. She mainly performs in Okinawa, mainland Japan, and also overseas; Nippon Connection the Japanese Film Festival 2019 (Germany), Bangkok Theater Festival 2018 (music offer) (Thailand), 2016 New Narratives Film Festival (Taiwan), Trans Asia Music Meeting (Okinawa). She has played with musicians and artists; the ex-guitarist of Salif Keita and a Kora player Mamadou Doumbia (Mali), avant-garde jazz band KgK (Okinawa), folk singer-songwriter Mikel Urdangarin (Basque), improvisation drummer Roger Turner (UK), GURU GURU drummer Mani Neumeier (Germany), and contemporary dancer Yu TAMURA (Japan). She played and sang an Okinawan traditional song in the Basque film "Margolaria (The Painter)" in 2018.

=PRESS=

—John Potter

The main focus of the trio is Aragaki, who has a strong voice and is an adaptable and imaginative sanshin player. Her own song 'Spinnin' Around' was one of the highlights, and she seems equally at home singing in Japanese or English, often in the same song. "See more"

Performer Mutsumi Aragaki is doing "some interesting things," including a trio called MKR Project that plays "both traditional and original songs," as well as an upcoming collaboration with Malian musician Mamadou Doumbia. (Potter adds that the duo will be playing in Tokyo during the month of November, so keep your eyes and ears open!) "See more"

Songlines Magazine No. 117, May 2016.

The trio MKR Project stands out with their experimental blending of old and new. Their singer and sanshin player Mutsumi Aragaki composes her own songs to which bass and drums are added. The drummer is Rob Goodman, an American resident on Okinawa. Aragaki also sings solo, is a sanshin teacher, and has just collaborated on live shows as a duo with Malian kora player Mamadou Doumbia. She is the focus of MKR Project's music, and the traditional Okinawan songs are given languid jazzy arrangements with her voice and sanshin to the fore. It's a mix which is still evolving but is one of the most promising at the showcase.

—Paul Fisher

I met Mutsumi this year in Okinawa and heard her music for the first time last year. A really creative soul.
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