A trip to Japan via Haruki Murakami and Kaoru Watanabe

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Cerys hosts your Sunday sonic and cultural adventure and chats to academic Dr Matteo Giacchè about Haruki Murakami and Japanese-American musician Kaoru Watanabe. Dr Matteo Giacchè is a researcher in Japanese Studies whose work explores the relationship between music, literature and Japanese culture, with a particular focus on the fiction of Haruki Murakami. He's discussing Murakami’s relationship with music, particularly jazz; the role music plays across his novels; and the story of Peter Cat, the jazz bar Murakami ran before becoming a full-time writer. This is ahead of the event 'Haruki Murakami’s Jazz at Peter Cat: a Japanese Jazz Night' at the Barbican in London. Kaoru Watanabe is a composer and multi-instrumentalist whose work is rooted in traditional Japanese performing arts while drawing on jazz, improvisation, electronics and contemporary composition. He’s just released his new album The Arch, a deeply personal record exploring identity, memory, family, transformation and the different musical traditions that have shaped his life. Across the album, Kaoru brings together traditional Japanese instruments including shinobue and ryuteki flutes, taiko, narimono percussion and koto with piano, synthesizers, saxophone, harp and other acoustic and electronic textures. Produced by BBC Audio for BBC Radio 6 Music.