Japanese Shamisen and Vocals with Sumie Kaneko

As a follow up to her koto pack, Sumie Kaneko is sharing the sounds of the Japanese shamisen, along with a broad range of vocals. She started playing the three-string shamisen when she was 18 years old because the koto and shamisen are often played together in traditional form.

For this pack, Kaneko tuned in Honchoshi, which is the traditional scale for the instrument. She crafted melodic patterns and improvised over them. Although she tuned for the traditional scale, she injected more groove and jazz rhythms to add an experimental flavor to this pack.