Murakami - Jazz Club Owner & Record Collector

This Booktunes page brings you music form all around the globe, music inspired by the words of Haruki Murakami - the Japanese writer who once owned a jazz club called Peter Cat. Once a record collector always a record collector, but we hope he drags some tunes off this page every now and then to discover new sounds in a digital way.

Here you will find bands and artist that are a perfect example of how inspiring art can be. Ever felt the urge to write a strory about an amazing painting? What about waking up after a concert night, tired, but ready to jump up with this strong feeling about how to spend the rest of your days?

All music here is inspired by the stories of Haruki Murakami. If you are an artist yourself and would love to display your works here, just let us know. Songs, paintings, photo's, anything that fits our pixel walls will do!

 

Raisa - El caso es salir de aqui

Raisa is a Spanish group that makes a nice blend of grassroots, americana, folk and pop from the sixties-early-seventies. In 2010 this band made their first record called 'El caso es salir de aqui'.

Singer-songwriter Thomás Garrido López wrote the songs after reading Blind willow, Sleeping woman (Sauce ciego, mujer dormida), and was surprised by the way these newly composed songs already seemed so familiar to him. 

When arranging the songs Raisa tried to recreate the atmosphere created by the words of Murakami by staying close to the original feelings and emotions so beautifully touched in Blind willow, Sleeping Woman.

Booktunes really like the way this worked out and is happy to present their album on this page. Thanks to Raisa for the free download...

Disfruta!

Visit Raisa on Facebook & Myspace

Ryan Anthony Francis - Wind-Up Bird Preludes

New York based Composer Ryan Anthony Francis found inspiration for his piano works in Murakami's The Wind-up Bird Chronicle. Listen to his Wind-Up Bird Preludes as played by virtuoso pianist Vicky Chow, read Francis' article on Murakami's writing and his own musical works here on Booktunes.

Wind-Up Bird Preludes
By Ryan Francis

Wind-Up Bird Preludes engages in some pretty head-spinning musical and literary referencing. The title of the set comes from Haruki Murakami’s massive novel The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. Murakami’s novel itself is divided into three separately published parts, each named after classical pieces, respectively Rossini’s The Thieving Magpie, Schumann’s Bird as Prophet and “Birdcatcher” in reference to Mozart’s The Magic Flute. Jazz music also plays a central roll in the musical backdrop of the novel. I was always impressed by the sophistication and depth of meaning in Murakami’s choices of these pieces and thought it would be an interesting project to bring these presences of to Rossini, Schumann, Mozart, and jazz full circle as fleeting presences in a set of pieces that respond to the form of his novel.

Throughout Chronicle, the titular “wind-up bird” is heard—though never seen—by various characters, and its appearance often coincides with, or even prophecises, the onset of some calamity. That role of the bird in his novel seems to draw a clear line to that of the magpie in Rossini’s opera, whose thieving ways create the central dramatic conflict. In a more earthbound reference, the novel’s protagonist is searching for his wife, with the parallels to Papageno being obvious.

There are other strange musical allusions in my set as well. One prelude, Empty Guitar Case, depicts the violent confrontation of the novel’s protagonist with a jazz guitarist. I couldn’t help but think of Claude Debussy’s own piano prelude Interrupted Serenade, which depicts a guitarist in a café struggling to be heard over loud interjections of conversation by café patrons. I often wonder if that prelude came to mind as Murakami wrote that scene in his novel. He doesn’t explicitly draw the connection, but I believe it is there.

It’s also difficult to escape Olivier Messiaen's influence when writing piano music about birds, especially if you include musical material approximating naturalistic bird sounds (or totally faked naturalistic sounds, as I do) but I was rather satisfied that this set of preludes includes such a mélange of other musical references that his towering figure wouldn’t overshadow my piece. He has plenty of company here!

Find the Wind-Up Bird Preludes on iTunes or order the CD through Tzadik Records.
Order Murakami's Wind-Up Bird Chronicle at Amazon or Bol.