Pipa

Because Kenny has been to Japan before, he has friends here, and that has opened up a few invitations that would not otherwise come my way.
Yesterday, we were invited to a house concert featuring a pipa player. This meant nothing to me at the time, I'll admit.
We met some of Kenny's friends for lunch, and with their help, and my handy Japanese gluten-free print out, I was able to have a "safe" lunch, which was quite welcome.
We finished our lunch and took a soggy walk to the host's house through driving rain. I learned, sometime in the course of the day, that our host is the wife of a well-known politician, and the house concert was being held on what seems to be the entertainment floor of their house. The concert room seats about 50 and has a small stage area with a grand piano.
The pipa, we learned as part of the concert, is a Chinese instrument related to the Japanese biwa. And the musician, Yang Jing, is a world-class pipa player who seems to be in Japan for a few concerts and this house concert was a private performance. The pipa, at least in Yang Jing's hands, could sound like a guitar or mandolin, and she even used it for percussion from time to time. The songs she played ranged from traditional pieces to modern compositions, and this included a selection from a new opera by Miki Minoru, who was in attendance (and sitting right behind us). The style of playing went from what you might think of as traditional Chinese music to a very rocked-out sound.
And the concert finished with two guest flute players and a traditional piece and poem, which Yang Jing recited in Chinese and one of the other guests gave us a graceful English translation.
(Here's a version of the poem, Moonlit Night by the Spring River, which is, among other things, about longing and grief)
After the concert, a reception and then a cab back to the hotel in the rain. It was too cold and wet to go anywhere last evening. I slept for about 12 hours.