We were out in Palma the night before last to attend a concert at the CaixaForum. One of the regular features at the CaixaForum in Palma is the annual event of a series of concerts of Musíc del Mon, music from the far corners of the world, such as from Egypt, Mali, Turkey, Iran, Cuba, Brazil, Japan, Scotland, the Basque country, Alaska or Pakistan, you name it.

About a month ago, there was a concert of traditional Persian music, given by the Mezrab Ensemble. Delightful. It was so absorbing, I went twice, on two successive nights. The night before yesterday, it was Japanese Koto music, performed by the formidable Mieko Miyazaki. The Koto is probably the most Japanese of all instruments, a 13-string zither-type long body, looking back at a 1300 years old ancestry. Surprisingly, that night the Koto was paired with an Erhu, an even more ancient Chinese violin-type instrument of two strings, masterfully played by Chinese musician, Guo Gan (see photo). There will be another concert of Armenian music, performed by Vardan Grigoryan Duduk Quartet, on April 17th. Admission is 4 €.

If you would like to hear Guo Gan play the Erhu and Mieko Miyazaki play the Koto, here’s a video snippet (the same piece was played at Palma’s rendition as well, the other night):

The photo was taken in Palma, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: March 13th, 2012. The time was 21:13:27.