TRACKS
VIDEOS
PHOTOS
About: Empty Mountains are Full of Wind and Rain
About: Empty Mountains are Full of Wind and Rain
About: Empty Mountains are Full of Wind and Rain
About: Empty Mountains are Full of Wind and Rain
About: Empty Mountains are Full of Wind and Rain
About: Empty Mountains are Full of Wind and Rain
Followers
ABOUT
Empty Mountains are Full of Wind and Rain (CZ/USA/FIN/JAP)
The highest aim is not to have any aim or rather more country than anybody else.
Anna Romanovská (CZ) – violin, koto
Hearn Gadbois (USA) - percussion
Esko Mäkinen (FIN) – double bass, harmonium, melodica, overtone flute
Seizan Kenji Osako (JAP) – shakuhachi, alto and soprano saxophone
Michal Hrubý (CZ) - clarinet, bass clarinet, tenor saxophone, overtone flute
The band Empty Mountains are Full of Wind and Rain, whose name comes from an old Korean Zen poem, was founded as a trio by Michal Hrubý, a wind instrument player and founder of the bands Neočekávaný dýchánek (Unexpected Party) and Kapitán Kajman (Captain Cayman), Finnish double bass player Esko Mäkinen and phenomenal American percussionist Hearn Gadbois, who used to play and record for example with Patti Smith or Suzanne Vega, in September 2014.
Later on, the international trio was joined by Seizan Kenji Osako, who plays the flute shakuhachi, and a young violinist and player of the Japanese string instrument koto, Anna Romanovská (Berg Orchestra and others). The band focuses on free improvisation on the borders between jazz and folklore music of all the countries the members of the band come from.
In June 2015, the band created the accompaniment for the Czech part of the project Global Water Dance 2015.
Legends of Czech alternative music also performed with the band as guest players: cellist Miroslav Posejpal, shakuhachi player Vlastislav Matoušek, or the saxophone player from the band The Plastic People of the Universe, Vratislav Brabenec.
ANNA ROMANOVSKA FLIEGEROVA was born in Prague in 1982. She has played the violin since she was five years old. At the age of nine, she started to visit summer Master Classes in violin under Prof. Petr Messiereur, Prof. Jindřich Pazdera, and Prof. Pavel Kudelásek every year until 2005.
From 1997 till 2003, Anna studied playing the violin at the Conservatory of Prague in the class of Prof. Karel Přibyl. In the spring of 2008, she finished her master's degree at Charles University in Prague in two main subjects: teaching music and violin playing. In September 2009, Anna started her doctor's studies at the same university.
During her studies at Charles University, she participated in chamber music masterclass MUSTUFE (MUsic STUdy FEstival) in Lithuania (April 2006 and 2007). In May 2007, she did a short-term attachment in Moscow. Anna also spent one semester in Dublin as an Erasmus student at St. Patrick's College (2007). In June 2008, she won the second prize in the nationwide competition of Czech universities.
Since 2006, she has arranged summer Master Classes for Prof. Bohuslav Matoušek in a south Czech cloister Zlatá Koruna during the Royal music festival Zlatá Koruna, where she also worked as a second manager for two years.
At the age of eighteen, Anna became a solo violin player in the jazz orchestra of Prague's theatre Na Fidlovačce. Since 2000, Anna has been a permanent member of the Berg Chamber Orchestra (whose main repertoire is oriented to the original music of Czech and world's composers of the 20th and 21st centuries). In 2006, she started to cooperate with the South Czech Philharmonic Orchestra.
With many various groups, Anna has performed in many European countries, in Turkey (2003, 2005), in Cyprus (2006), and in Japan (1997, 2001, 2006).
SEIZAN KENJI OSAKO Tozan-ryu Shakuhachi Shihan (licensed teacher of Tozan shakuhachi school)
Tutored under Kozan Yamazaki (recording and touring with the well-known shamisen group 'Yoshida Kyodai') from the 1990s. Also studying under Tozan-ryu masters such as Taizan Kawamura and Houzan Nomura at the Tozan-ryu master classes over the last decade.
Currently resides in Prague, Czech Republic, and performs not just Japanese traditional pieces but more modern and improvisational styles of music. Co-performers include shakuhachi player Vlastislav Matousek, pianist Martin Kratchvil, and percussionist Zangi.
Besides Tozan-ryu, commuting a few times a year to Icchoken zen temple in Fukuoka city, Japan to learn its traditional koten honkyoku.
Other music background includes academic study of piano and jazz theory and ensemble with Ron Perry and Peter Domingues at the music department of Michigan State University in the USA and for playing saxophone, toured with local blues bands in Japan, recording CD with local Moravian band, currently studying under Jiri Kulisev from Jaroslav Jezek Conservatory.
Esko Mäkinen was born on 29. 9. 1961 in Jämsänkoski, Finland.
As a musician, composer, arranger, conductor, or teacher in the following groups or companies in Tampere, Finland:
- H-Tuotanto - musician
- Sissiteatteri – musician/composer
- Musiikkiteatteri Reput - musician
- Tampereen Ylioppilasteatteri (Tampere University Theater) - musician
- Tampereen Yliopiston näyttelijäntyön linja (Tamp. Univ. Theater school) - musician
- TAKK Tampere Adult Education Center – music teacher
- Ahjolan Setlementti – music teacher
- Sekakuoro Avomaan Kurkut (Mixed choir Cucumis Terra Liberta) – composer/conductor
- Musiikkiteatteri Musta Hauki (Music theater Black Pike) – composer/conductor
- Improteatteri Helmikana – composer/conductor
- Tarinateatteri Silta (Story theater Silta) – composer/conductor
- Työväenopiston tarinateatteriryhmät Lempäälä ja Tampere - musician
Some highlights...
- Punkooppera Punktio (Punk opera Punktio), opera, Sekakuoro Avomaan Kurkut/Sissiteatteri, libretto Jouni Numminen, dir. Miisa Lindén – composer, conductor, 1995
- Ukkosrumpu, TV documentary, Elokuvaosuuskunta Camera Cagliostro/TV 1/Katariina Lillqvist – comp., arr. and studio work, 2000
- Mire Bala Kale Hin, animation series, Elokuvaosuuskunta Camera Cagliostro/Katariina Lillqvist - comp., arr. and studio work, 2000
- Pinokkio, puppet theater, Teatteri Mukamas, dir. Jakub Krofta (CZ) – comp., lyrics by translated version, sounds, 2001
- Hääät, music theater, Musiikkiteatteri Musta Hauki, dir. Arto Minkkinen, story Vuokko Tolonen – comp., cond., 1998
- Monikansallinen Potkupallo-ooppera, music theater, Musiikkiteatteri Musta Hauki, dir. A. Minkkinen, story Jyrki Kaipainen – comp., cond., 1999
In the years 2006 –2012, studied as a wilderness guide and natural products advisor (CNPA).
In 2014, moved to the Czech Republic.
Instruments: double and electric bass, acoustic guitar, keyboards, percussions, wooden flutes, and whistles, etc.
MICHAL HRUBY was born in Broumov in East Bohemia in 1973. At the age of seven, he started playing the recorder, and when he was ten, he went on to play the clarinet. Later on, he added the saxophone and bass clarinet and also a number of folklore wind instruments, mainly of Slovak origin.
When he was sixteen years old, he founded a rock band called Sveřepé prase (Pigheaded Pig). Having moved to Prague, he founded and was the leader of the band Neočekávaný dýchánek (Unexpected Party), one of the first Czech bands reacting to the boom of world music. Three years later, he left the band and started a new band of similar orientation called Kapitán Kajman (Captain Caiman), and he was its leader until they split up in 2008.
Since then, he has been playing in many bands and projects: Květovaný kůň (Flowered Horse) focuses on the works of the Czech composer Karel Reiner from the times of World War II, Trio Salaš (Trio Sheepfold), Mléčná dráha (Milky Way), and
The highest aim is not to have any aim or rather more country than anybody else.
Anna Romanovská (CZ) – violin, koto
Hearn Gadbois (USA) - percussion
Esko Mäkinen (FIN) – double bass, harmonium, melodica, overtone flute
Seizan Kenji Osako (JAP) – shakuhachi, alto and soprano saxophone
Michal Hrubý (CZ) - clarinet, bass clarinet, tenor saxophone, overtone flute
The band Empty Mountains are Full of Wind and Rain, whose name comes from an old Korean Zen poem, was founded as a trio by Michal Hrubý, a wind instrument player and founder of the bands Neočekávaný dýchánek (Unexpected Party) and Kapitán Kajman (Captain Cayman), Finnish double bass player Esko Mäkinen and phenomenal American percussionist Hearn Gadbois, who used to play and record for example with Patti Smith or Suzanne Vega, in September 2014.
Later on, the international trio was joined by Seizan Kenji Osako, who plays the flute shakuhachi, and a young violinist and player of the Japanese string instrument koto, Anna Romanovská (Berg Orchestra and others). The band focuses on free improvisation on the borders between jazz and folklore music of all the countries the members of the band come from.
In June 2015, the band created the accompaniment for the Czech part of the project Global Water Dance 2015.
Legends of Czech alternative music also performed with the band as guest players: cellist Miroslav Posejpal, shakuhachi player Vlastislav Matoušek, or the saxophone player from the band The Plastic People of the Universe, Vratislav Brabenec.
ANNA ROMANOVSKA FLIEGEROVA was born in Prague in 1982. She has played the violin since she was five years old. At the age of nine, she started to visit summer Master Classes in violin under Prof. Petr Messiereur, Prof. Jindřich Pazdera, and Prof. Pavel Kudelásek every year until 2005.
From 1997 till 2003, Anna studied playing the violin at the Conservatory of Prague in the class of Prof. Karel Přibyl. In the spring of 2008, she finished her master's degree at Charles University in Prague in two main subjects: teaching music and violin playing. In September 2009, Anna started her doctor's studies at the same university.
During her studies at Charles University, she participated in chamber music masterclass MUSTUFE (MUsic STUdy FEstival) in Lithuania (April 2006 and 2007). In May 2007, she did a short-term attachment in Moscow. Anna also spent one semester in Dublin as an Erasmus student at St. Patrick's College (2007). In June 2008, she won the second prize in the nationwide competition of Czech universities.
Since 2006, she has arranged summer Master Classes for Prof. Bohuslav Matoušek in a south Czech cloister Zlatá Koruna during the Royal music festival Zlatá Koruna, where she also worked as a second manager for two years.
At the age of eighteen, Anna became a solo violin player in the jazz orchestra of Prague's theatre Na Fidlovačce. Since 2000, Anna has been a permanent member of the Berg Chamber Orchestra (whose main repertoire is oriented to the original music of Czech and world's composers of the 20th and 21st centuries). In 2006, she started to cooperate with the South Czech Philharmonic Orchestra.
With many various groups, Anna has performed in many European countries, in Turkey (2003, 2005), in Cyprus (2006), and in Japan (1997, 2001, 2006).
SEIZAN KENJI OSAKO Tozan-ryu Shakuhachi Shihan (licensed teacher of Tozan shakuhachi school)
Tutored under Kozan Yamazaki (recording and touring with the well-known shamisen group 'Yoshida Kyodai') from the 1990s. Also studying under Tozan-ryu masters such as Taizan Kawamura and Houzan Nomura at the Tozan-ryu master classes over the last decade.
Currently resides in Prague, Czech Republic, and performs not just Japanese traditional pieces but more modern and improvisational styles of music. Co-performers include shakuhachi player Vlastislav Matousek, pianist Martin Kratchvil, and percussionist Zangi.
Besides Tozan-ryu, commuting a few times a year to Icchoken zen temple in Fukuoka city, Japan to learn its traditional koten honkyoku.
Other music background includes academic study of piano and jazz theory and ensemble with Ron Perry and Peter Domingues at the music department of Michigan State University in the USA and for playing saxophone, toured with local blues bands in Japan, recording CD with local Moravian band, currently studying under Jiri Kulisev from Jaroslav Jezek Conservatory.
Esko Mäkinen was born on 29. 9. 1961 in Jämsänkoski, Finland.
As a musician, composer, arranger, conductor, or teacher in the following groups or companies in Tampere, Finland:
- H-Tuotanto - musician
- Sissiteatteri – musician/composer
- Musiikkiteatteri Reput - musician
- Tampereen Ylioppilasteatteri (Tampere University Theater) - musician
- Tampereen Yliopiston näyttelijäntyön linja (Tamp. Univ. Theater school) - musician
- TAKK Tampere Adult Education Center – music teacher
- Ahjolan Setlementti – music teacher
- Sekakuoro Avomaan Kurkut (Mixed choir Cucumis Terra Liberta) – composer/conductor
- Musiikkiteatteri Musta Hauki (Music theater Black Pike) – composer/conductor
- Improteatteri Helmikana – composer/conductor
- Tarinateatteri Silta (Story theater Silta) – composer/conductor
- Työväenopiston tarinateatteriryhmät Lempäälä ja Tampere - musician
Some highlights...
- Punkooppera Punktio (Punk opera Punktio), opera, Sekakuoro Avomaan Kurkut/Sissiteatteri, libretto Jouni Numminen, dir. Miisa Lindén – composer, conductor, 1995
- Ukkosrumpu, TV documentary, Elokuvaosuuskunta Camera Cagliostro/TV 1/Katariina Lillqvist – comp., arr. and studio work, 2000
- Mire Bala Kale Hin, animation series, Elokuvaosuuskunta Camera Cagliostro/Katariina Lillqvist - comp., arr. and studio work, 2000
- Pinokkio, puppet theater, Teatteri Mukamas, dir. Jakub Krofta (CZ) – comp., lyrics by translated version, sounds, 2001
- Hääät, music theater, Musiikkiteatteri Musta Hauki, dir. Arto Minkkinen, story Vuokko Tolonen – comp., cond., 1998
- Monikansallinen Potkupallo-ooppera, music theater, Musiikkiteatteri Musta Hauki, dir. A. Minkkinen, story Jyrki Kaipainen – comp., cond., 1999
In the years 2006 –2012, studied as a wilderness guide and natural products advisor (CNPA).
In 2014, moved to the Czech Republic.
Instruments: double and electric bass, acoustic guitar, keyboards, percussions, wooden flutes, and whistles, etc.
MICHAL HRUBY was born in Broumov in East Bohemia in 1973. At the age of seven, he started playing the recorder, and when he was ten, he went on to play the clarinet. Later on, he added the saxophone and bass clarinet and also a number of folklore wind instruments, mainly of Slovak origin.
When he was sixteen years old, he founded a rock band called Sveřepé prase (Pigheaded Pig). Having moved to Prague, he founded and was the leader of the band Neočekávaný dýchánek (Unexpected Party), one of the first Czech bands reacting to the boom of world music. Three years later, he left the band and started a new band of similar orientation called Kapitán Kajman (Captain Caiman), and he was its leader until they split up in 2008.
Since then, he has been playing in many bands and projects: Květovaný kůň (Flowered Horse) focuses on the works of the Czech composer Karel Reiner from the times of World War II, Trio Salaš (Trio Sheepfold), Mléčná dráha (Milky Way), and
