Songs of My Land

A classical soprano with a decades-long career in early music, Chiyomi Yamada moved back to her native Japan in 2022, after years residing as a performer in Europe. Fascinated by Japan and Europe’s historical musical exchange, Yamada has since initiated several projects that explore this connection, of which Songs of My Land is the latest, albeit heavily focussed on Japanese tradition. Arranged and recorded in collaboration with Japanese folk band Baobab – led by sibling multi-instrumentalists Maiko and Mirai Matsumoto, this release is a collection of ancient Japanese melodies, fused with European period instruments and a heavy influence from Celtic folk music. Opener ‘Nagata No Komoriuta’ is a lullaby from Kagoshima prefecture, underpinned by nylon-string guitar and gentle taiko drums. The arrangement of ‘Muko Yokocho’ centres Tsuyoshi Maeda’s Celtic flutes, before segueing into an unmistakeably Celtic 12/8 rhythm. ‘Gionshōja’, a haunting a capella, is derived from the 13th-century epic story The Tale of the Heike, and expresses Buddhist concepts of change and impermanence. Engineered and co-produced by Jonas Niederstadt, the soundscape of this album leans into a sleek, accessible folk-pop, replete with ethereal vocal layering and lush instrumental arrangements, tied together by Yamada’s arresting central vocal performance.