#Kappa Quartet

[jpbjazz]

LÉGENDES DU JAZZ

BUD SHANK, PIONNIER DES MUSIQUES DU MONDE

Né le 27 mai 1926 à Dayton, en Ohio, Clifford Everett "Bud" Shank Jr. avait commencé à jouer de la clarinette à Vandalia, en Ohio, mais avait adopté le saxophone alto avant de commencer à fréquenter l’Université de North Carolina. Durant son séjour à l’université, Shank avait été admis dans la Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, une organisation humanitaire.

DÉBUTS DE CARRIÈRE

Shank a commencé sa carrière en 1946 en jouant avec le groupe de Charlie Barnet. Quatre ans plus tard, il s’était joint à l’orchestre de Stan Kenton sur la Côte ouest. Un des membres de l’orchestre de Kenton était le contrebassiste Howard Rumsey. Après avoir quitté le groupe de Kenton, Rumsey avait formé un groupe tout-étoile appelé les Lighthouse All Stars, d’après le nom du club où il se produisait, le Hermosa Beach Lighthouse Club. Shank s’était éventuellement joint au groupe. Décrivant son séjour avec le groupe de Rumsey, Shank avait commenté: ‘’I had been working at the Lighthouse for a long time before I knew anything at all about chord changes. I finally went and studied with Shorty Rogers, and learned what chords were. Because I'd played totally by ear prior to that time.’’ À cette époque, Shank avait également formé son propre quartet avec le saxophoniste et oboïste Bob Cooper et des pianistes comme Hampton Hawes et Jimmy Rowles.

En 1953-54, Shank avait commencé à s’intéresser à ce qu’on appelle aujourd’hui les musiques du monde, et avait joué du jazz influencé par des compositeurs brésiliens comme le guitariste Laurindo Almeida, ce qui avait éventuellement contribué à accroître la popularité de la bossa nova chez des musiciens comme Stan Getz par exemple. Shank avait d’ailleurs travaillé avec des pionniers de la bossa nova comme Sergio Mendes. Shank avait éventuellement abandonné les musiques du monde à la fin de la même décennie pour se concentrer sur son travail de musicien de studio. Shank avait d’ailleurs remporté un grand succès en jouant un solo de flûte sur la pièce ‘’California Dreamin'' du groupe the Mamas and the Papas.

En 1958, Shank était devenu le premier musicien de jazz américain à enregistrer en Italie. L’enregistrement avait été effectué par un orchestre dirigé par Ezio Leoni (également connu sous le nom de Len Mercer). Shank avait ainsi ouvert la voie à des musiciens comme Chet Baker qui avaient également enregistré avec Leoni à Milan plus tard. En 1958 et 1960, Shank avait aussi composé la bande sonore des films de surf de Bruce Brown: ‘’Slippery When Wet’’ et ‘’Barefoot Adventure.’’ Shank avait continué de travailler dans le secteur e la musique du monde en 1962, en fusionnant le jazz avec la musique indienne dans le cadre d’une collaboration avec le compositeur et joueur de cithare indien Ravi Shankar.

DERNIÈRES ANNÉES

En 1974, Shank s’était joint à Ray Brown, Shelly Manne (qui avait été remplacé par Jeff Hamilton après 1977) et Laurindo Almeida pour former le groupe L.A. Four, un groupe de cool bob influencé par le jazz latin avec il avait enregistré et joué en tournée jusqu’en 1982. Le groupe avait également collaboré avec l’excellent trompettiste Bobby Shew. En 2005, dans le cadre du 40e anniversaire du Neophonic Orchestra de Stan Kenton, Shank avait fondé son propre big band, le Bud Shank Big Band.

Dans les années 1990, Shank avait créé une performance multimédia sous le titre de The Lost Cathedral. Il avait aussi augmenté la taille du Bud Shank Jazz Workshop tout en se produisant dans de nombreux festivals de jazz, dont le Jazz Southwest Festival d’Albuquerque au Nouveau-Mexique.

Shank avait également enregistré des albums en hommage à Frank Sinatra et Gerry Mulligan. En 2004, Shank avait enregistré avec le saxophoniste alto Phil Woods. Deux ans plus tard, il avait enregistré en duo avec le pianiste Bill Mays.

Même s’il avait souffert de problèmes respiratoires à la fin de sa carrière, Shank n’avait jamais abandonnné et avait continué de faire des tournées et d’animer des cliniques de jazz.

Bud Shank est mort le 2 avril 2009 d’une embolie pulmonaire à sa résidence de Tucson, en Arizona. Il était âgé de quatre-vingt-deux ans. La veille, Shank venait de finir d’enregistrer un nouvel album à San Diego, en Californie. Shank laissait dans le deuil son épouse Linda.

Reconnu comme un des principaux responsables de la popularisation du jazz latin et du jazz de chambre, Shank s’était produit avec plusieurs orchestres au cours de sa carrière, dont le Royal Philharmonic, le New American Orchestra, le Gerald Wilson Big Band, le Neophonic Orchestra de Stan Kenton et l’orchestre de Duke Ellington.

En 2008, le réalisateur et producteur Graham Carter avait rendu hommage à Shank dans un documentaire intitulé "Against the Tide, Portrait of a Jazz Legend.’’ La film s’est mérité quatre prix Indie, dont le prix Aurora Awards Gold.

Shank, qui jouait également du saxophone ténor, du saxophone baryton, de la clarinette et de la flûte (qu’il avait abandonnée en 1986 pour se consacrer au saxophone alto), s’était acquis la réputation d’être un improvisateur d’une grande originalité et d’une grande intelligence. Souvent comparé à Art Pepper, le jeu de Shantz était cependant moins langoureux et intense que celui de Pepper, et se distinguait par un ton mélancolique qui rappelait à la fois le style de Charlie Parker et de Benny Carter.

Shank a remporté le prix de National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) à quatre reprises. Shank avait enregistré plus de cinquante albums au cours de sa carrière.

©-2024, tous droits réservés, Les Productions de l’Imaginaire historique

SOURCES:

‘’Bud Shank.’’ Wikipedia, 2023.

‘’Bud Shank.’’ All About Jazz, 2023.

‘’Bud Shank (1926-2009).’’ National Jazz Archives, 2023.

FORDHAM, John. ‘’Obituary: Bud Shank.’’ Guardian News, 6 avril 2009.

[star-labs-intern]

1, 4, and 8 for the writing meme!

1. What was the first fandom and/or pairing that you wrote fic for?

Ok this is a funny story - post-able on good ole fanfic.net back in the day, I wrote HP marauder fics. However!!! Before that, my brother and I used to play a game we called "fanfictioning" where we basically verbally improvised a crossover fanfic. Hilariously enough I think Kappa Mikey was the first show we crossed over with Harry Potter 😂

4. Do you outline before you start writing? If so, how far do you stray from that outline?

I do outline! I stray from the outline typically very little but that being said I try to allow myself to deviate from the outline when the story calls for it or if I feel the characters heading in a different direction. If the way the characters dialogue is flowing makes me think of some adjacent sequence events, I may end up changing the outline quite a lot.

Also sometimes outlining isn't always the first thing that happens, sometimes I write a scene or two and then structure the rest of the story so my outlining might be a little different than others.

8. Do you listen to music while you write? If so, share a song that’s been inspiring you lately.

I always listen to music - typically I have some playlists I circle through. There are some that I have binged as I write but it's always different and based on my emotional state / what kind of content I'm writing. I like The Front Bottoms, Motion City Soundtrack and if I'm looking for instrumental I usually do Vitamin String Quartet. I also do ambient sounds sometimes like rain & thunder.

Thanks for the ask!! These were fun to answer ! Taking these Behind the Scenes writing prompts!

[withonelook]

daryl qilin yam is doing a writing workshop while im out of the country which is 😭 but also it's on narrative and plot 101 which is really really funny. like this is mr lovelier lonelier. mr kappa quartet. you're getting a guy who's famous for his backwards plot to give a beginners seminar on plot

[merrilywereadoutofline]

Kappa Quartet Review

Rating: 3.9/5 ⭐️

This review is going to be really short but this book is my underground-indie-I'm way better than you-nobody else knows about this-I think I like this little life-my little secret book. I bought this one in 2020 the day after Covid reached Singapore and my mum told me something about needing to read more advanced books so I can do better at english and I was in year 9(?) at the time this was going on... so this book was definitely way too advanced for me back then TT

In all seriousness though I do understand this book better now and I like to do a yearly read with this because of how good of a book this is.

I've given this book a .9 instead of just a 3 or a 4 because of the fact that it's quite forgettable for me 💀 which is why I have to reread it every year and can't provide a synopsis in my own words and spoiler warning this time. It's still a great book but if you're not giving it 110% of your concentration it's going to be a bit of a difficult read in my opinion. But, this is coming from someone who has a low attention span and only binges things if I'm seriously hooked (which is a really hard thing to do sometimes).

In general, I really enjoyed how this book is basically a collection of short stories of sorts, each chapter involving a character that is linked to another character to the next or previous chapter, and they all play a role in each others' lives. And it's really interesting to see the different perspectives on life between both kappas (Japanese mythical creature) and humans. Plus the tea is really hot and crazy in this book at times.

Settings are really vividly described and so clear in this novel which is really great. I prefer it when I'm given more specific descriptors on where characters are and what they're doing, because I'm not what they call a free thinker when it comes to these kinds of novels that involve sort of everyday, "common" settings (if we ignore the fact that Kappas are a part of the story for just one second).

What is also really cool was the combination of Singaporean and Japanese culture throughout the novel. Daryl Qilin Yam absolutely cooked tf up with this one because the way that he integrates both cultures between the short stories set in Japan and Singapore respectively, and with the characters of respective ethnicities was really unique in my opinion.

To wrap it up, I'm going to have to reread this one once when it's rainy weather so I can refresh myself and hopefully edit and update this review, but if you like whimsical stories that are quirky and get your brain working a little then you should for sure pick up this book.

Thanks for reading <3

[bumpscosity]

I am still always thinking abt this

CEC CLONE WHERE THEYRE ALL MYTHICAL CREATURES AND THE MR MUNCH RESKIN IS A DRAGON WITH TINY WINGS LIKE THE BUTTERFLY IN A BUGS LIFE AND THERES A PIZZACAM ESQUE ONE WHO SHOWS UP IN BETWEEN SHOWS AND THE JOKE IS HES ALWAYS TRYING TO RECORD THEM TO GET EVIDENCE OF THEIR EXISTENCE BUT HE ALWAYS LEAVES RIGHT WHEN THE SHOW STARTS

[prideoftheknights]

Literature Impasse — 文学隘路 【Chapter 6】

PREVIOUS CHAPTER | MASTERLIST | NEXT CHAPTER

translation under the cut!

[Typing SFX]

Tsuzuru: ……No, as expected it’s not right.

[Typing SFX]

Tsuzuru: ……

……

Urgh… This one isn’t good either.

Hah… I’m stuck with a blank slate because I keep erasing everything every time I write something.

It’s okay, I don’t have to write something today.

???: That’s right.

Ennis: “It may be a universal experience to write out a whole story with a single brush.”

“But it doesn't have to be the same for you.”

“Just as a quartet piece cannot be played on a single violin, the story you write may—”

Tsuzuru: That’s right. Just because I’m the only writer doesn't mean I have to write my stories in solitude.

Ennis: Exactly.

Tsuzuru: …I can’t even write in my dreams, huh. How befitting of me.

But I’m actually like that in real life.

(I'm just an ordinary guy who loves stories. I haven't lived an extraordinary life that I can tell people about.)

(I don't have any unique sensibilities, nor do I have a rich vocabulary or specific knowledge.)

(I haven't always written stories based solely on what I’ve experienced.)

.......If you can't find the answer within yourself, you have to go look for it somewhere else. You can rely on someone else.

……It’s about time to leave.

Tsuzuru: Ah, over here—

Mizuno: Please wait a moment!

Tsuzuru: No, you can't go undercover here! You're gonna get kicked out.

Mizuno: I-I understand. I’ll wear this at least..... So the favour you’re asking of me is……

Tsuzuru: Actually, there's something I'd like to discuss with you.

Tsuzuru: …So that’s my situation.

Mizuno: …I see.

Tsuzuru: Well, it was a long time ago, so I'm sure your memory is hazy……

I hope you could give a shot at remembering. Don't worry if you don't remember any of it. It's the same for me.

Mizuno: No way I would ever forget such a precious memory!

Tsuzuru: Eh…?

Mizuno: I remember vividly how the story came to be completed, because I've thought about it a in the past.

Tsuzuru: Really? Please, tell me.

Mizuno: I-I understand. If that’s the case then…

But, that’s…… It’d be too disrespectful……

No, but……

Tsuzuru: ???

Mizuno: ……A-Alright.

If that's the case...... There is something I would like to show you, Tsuzuru-kun...

Mizuno: I'm sorry, please wait at the entrance for a moment!

Tsuzuru: That's fine, but you don't have to worry about it being messy y'know?

......

Mizuno: Sorry to keep you waiting!

Tsuzuru: I didn't even wait for more than ten seconds...

Mizuno: Please come in!

Tsuzuru: It's so spacious....... It's really clean too.

Hey, um, isn't that picture frame flipped the other way round kinda weird–

Mizuno: You don't have to worry about it!

Tsuzuru: I-Is that so?

(It's really strange to look at, but I won't get into it. Or rather, don't tell me... He was turning this around earlier...?)

Mizuno: Please come to the sofa! Oh, would you like a cup of tea?

I can get you mineral water, sparkling water, drip coffee, espresso, cafe latte, cafe mocha. For teas I have Assam tea, Darjeeling tea......

Redbush tea, blackberry leaf tea, oolong tea, jasmine tea, Sencha and Hojicha, barley tea, black bean tea, corn tea, and more!

Tsuzuru: That's way too many.

Just regular coffee is fine with me.

Mizuno: Of course!

Tsuzuru: So, what is it you wanted to show me……?

Mizuno: You used to draw a lot in the past, right?

Tsuzuru: Oh, actually, I still draw sometimes.......

Mizuno: Really!? I want to see it next time!

Tsuzuru: It's usually just doodles so I just throw them away.

Oh? Hey, that kappa... Could it be...?

Mizuno: It's a drawing done by Tsuzuru-kun.

At the time, we were both discussing ideas for a play for a birthday party during our recess, when it suddenly came to Tsuzuru-kun......

It was drawn not in Tsuzuru-kun's usual notebook, but in my Japanese notebook that I just so happened to have.

"Let's make this guy the main character".

Tsuzuru: I see. But, why a kappa...

Mizuno: There was a rumour at school that kappa would appear along the river bank where we used to pick dandelions together.

When I was scared, Tsuzuru-kun said that if they really existed, we could become friends, and then he drew this kappa.

From there, the story of the kappa and the boy becoming friends was born.

Tsuzuru: So that's how it all started.

Still, I'm surprised you remembered.

Mizuno: I did because it's a precious memory.

Tsuzuru: ...Sorry I forgot about you, kappa.

(......So I didn't write that script with just my own ideas after all.)

(I wanted to write it because it's a story that came from my conversation with Mizuno.)

This notebook... I'm surprised you kept it.

Mizuno: I thought it would be a valuable resource for Tsuzuru-kun when he finally publishes his autobiography, so I kept it in a safe place.

Tsuzuru: Autobiography!? Just now, I said that like it's been settled on, but I don't actually have plans to make one.

Mizuno: B-But now that this opportunity has come along, of course I will give this back to Tsuzuru-kun……!

Tsuzuru: No, keep it. It was Mizuno's Japanese notebook to begin with. Say, I'm sorry I scribbled in there without permission.

Mizuno: No, don't be! It has become a family heirloom!

Tsuzuru: If you don't mind Mizuno, you can keep it. If you don't need it anymore then you can throw it away.

Mizuno: I would never throw this away......!

But if Tsuzuru-kun says so...... Then I'll keep it in a safe place. Thank you very much.

Tsuzuru: (Tei is still stuck trying to create a story all by himself too. Even if that's the case, as expected, Sakuya's matter is......)

This has been very helpful. Thank you. Thanks for the coffee too.

Mizuno: Don't mention it! If there is ever anything else that I can do for you, please let me know anytime. I will do my best!

Tsuzuru: I'm counting on you. I'll be heading home now.

Mizuno: All the best.

......

Sigh......

(My poster with an enlargement of Luke's bromide...... I'm glad Tsuzuru-kun himself didn't see it.)

PREVIOUS CHAPTER | MASTERLIST | NEXT CHAPTER

[vulpiximisa]

@nullians is enabling me so here’s a short sloppy drabble of the Karasuno first year quartet finding Kappa Enta from Sarazanmai

(This is straight up copy pasted from my docs so yeah it’s a mess)

Somehow the kappa kids end up separated while in kappa form. Enta is alone, looking for Kazuki and Kuji when he thinks he hears Kazuki. He runs out and bumps into something. When he looks at what he ran into, he’s surprised to see a human staring back at him.

Enta freezes thinking maybe he hadn’t been spotted but the boy that he bumped into keeps watching him. Something must be up because humans shouldn’t be able to see them as kappa? 

The boy is tall, even taller now that Enta is barely 2 feet tall, so his figure looming over the poor kappa has Enta scared for his life. The boy crouches down to make eye contact with him and it does ease his fear a little.

The dark-haired boy, with striking blue eyes, continues to stare at him and Enta doesn’t know if maybe he should start running before he gets caught. The boy reaches a hand out and makes pinching motions with his fingers.

“Pspspsps.”

“What do you think I am? A cat?!”

The boy almost falls backwards. “It talks!”

Enta puts his webbed fingers over his beak. He really should have just left the scene but it feels a little too late for that now. 

“Where did you come from?” The boy reaches out again, hesitant this time but palm open.

Enta doesn’t answer, pretty sure he shouldn’t be interacting with this human any further.

“There you are! I’ve been looking all over for you!”

The voice is familiar, Enta knows it from anywhere.

“Kazuki!!!” He cries.

The boy turns at the sound and stands up to greet the owner of the voice. 

“Well whose fault is it for getting lost, boke.”

“YOU’RE THE ONE THAT GOT LOST!” 

The voice turned out not to be Enta’s Kazuki, but a boy with brilliant orange hair, who seemed to be a friend of the first boy.

“Anyway Kageyama, were you talking to somebody?” The orange boy asks and looks behind Kageyama’s shoulder.

Enta realized he should have used the chance to escape but he was distracted by the orange haired boy’s voice sounding so much like Kazuki’s that he almost fell into despair when it turned out not to be his friend coming to rescue him.

“Oh!! Is that a kappa? Wow, they really exist? Tokyo has all sorts of cool things, huh?”

Orange boy also bends down and stares deeply at Enta. He squirms under the boy’s gaze, really wishing for a way out. The taller boy steps up and picks him up. 

“You are real, right?”

“How can you ask that when I’m literally right in front of you?” Enta thinks but doesn’t voice.

“Ah, King, maybe you shouldn’t be touching that. You don’t know if it’s diseased or cursed.”

He’s not Enta’s second or third favorite person in the world, but Kuji could probably get him out of this! Tears in his eyes, he turns to the source of the voice.

“Kuji!!!” 

A tall blond with glasses is staring down at him. 

“Who are these people??? Where are Kazuki and Kuji???” Enta is straight up crying.

“Oi, Tsukishima you made it cry.” Kageyama barks at the blond.

“How is it my fault? I just got here.” The blond boy with Kuji’s voice peers down at Enta. He’s even taller than dark hair boy that is holding him. These kids were huge, what the heck??? 

“Oi lay off, you’re scaring it.” Kageyama pulls Enta away from Tsukishima.

There is a hand on his head plate and Enta looks up at the boy holding him. His eyes are sharp but his expression is soft. Enta feels his heart thump. What the heck?

“Sorry this jerk scared you. We don’t mean any harm.”

Enta didn’t tell him that he wasn’t scared of anyone here, he was just tired of this situation. 

“I think you should let it go Kageyama. I think we are crowding it. Maybe it wants to leave.” Another boy spoke up. Enta didn’t even notice this boy, but he seemed to have arrived with the blond Kuji-voice boy. 

Kageyama’s hold on him tightened a little. “What if it needs help?”

Enta looked at the boy in question. Maybe he could take his chances, he’s already this deep into it. “Actually, I’m looking for my friends.”

The four boys all looked at him simultaneously in shock. A chorus of “What?” “It talks!” “Woah!” bombarded him at the same time.

“Your friends?” Kageyama asks.

Enta nods. “Yeah, two more kappa. One with a red scarf and one with a blue scarf.” He gestures to the orange scarf around his neck.

The boys look at each other and then back to him.

“Sorry, we haven’t seen any other kappa around.” Orange boy says. 

“We’re also not from around here so we don’t know the area too well either.” The fourth boy with freckles speaks up. 

Enta sighs, so much for that. He thinks he’s done for the day when he spots a familiar red and blue out of the corner of his eyes. He blinks again and he sees Kazuki and Kuji hiding behind a store sign staring intently in his direction. They start waving when they see he’s noticed them.

“Oh! I have to go!” Enta wiggles out of Kageyama’s arms. “Good bye!”

He pads off, finally glad to get out of that.

ANYWAY, this entire thing is a seiyuu joke.

1) I wrote this at the height of my NanaSan (quiz bowl anime) obsession, where the main two were voiced by Ishikawa Kaito and Horie Shun, thus crack ship Kageyama/Enta

2) Ayu and Ucchi are obvious

3) Yamaguchi is there because i love the first year quartet

[strawbcrrywine]

But you know his soul couldn't have been stolen or extracted either. Disposal is possible, yes—but theft, no. Petty crimes of that sort don't happen in Singapore.

KAPPA QUARTET (2016) - DARYL YAM

[bishie-haven]

Cecil Celebration, October 5: The Aftermath of our Debut (Spoilers for UtaPri Debut)

Hello again, Princesses and Princes!

Thought I was kidding when I said this would be here today? NOPE, here’s your next dose of our sweet little prince!

In this post, we’re going back to the PSP games, specifically UtaPri Debut. Since this is supposed to be set, you know, after every STARISH boy graduates from Saotome Academy and is on track to debut as a full-fledged idol, you know the respective boy you’re paired with pretty well. Now, instead of assignments and graduation auditions, you’re now prepping legitimate compositions and debut concerts.

Or in Cecil’s case, you’ve gone from destroying the ruler of hell with harmonies and trying to keep your prince in human form...

...to trying to help him understand the country he’s in and getting past the huge roadblock to his dreams that is his senpai.

Yes, as Debut is where the senpais (Quartet Night) make their initial appearance, a lot of this route is dedicated not only to how your character and Cecil interact, but how he and Camus interact, as well. And if you know about how their relationship is in any form...it's rocky, to say the least. Bickering, insults, the works. In fact, any fans of Pirates of the Frontier? Camus's character name in that story, the White Devil, is originated from this route thanks to our kitty boy.

As much as Camus is a hindrance to the couple getting his approval to become solo acts, his criticism is actually helpful to Cecil in the long run. He is wanting to become an idol in Japan, and, while it is great to be yourself, you need to know about the societal norms of the country you work in in order to be truly successful.

There is a lot more to discuss when it comes to the personal aspects of the Royal Team, but that will be covered in a later post.

However, that isn't the end of Camus in this route...

Remember when I said in my post on October 3 how Debut and Amazing Aria had aspects of Repeat's over-the-top fantasy beats? Well, this comes after Camus has given the couple the go ahead to debut solo. Everything seems fine and well...until your character passes out during a shower. You wake up not remembering a single thing. Tomochika tells you that you had went all around the Master Course calling everyone rude names (Masato a kappa, Syo a...name you should not call a short person, expressing flat out hatred for Ren, etc.). Cecil gets wind of this and tries to help you, but you even start to throw insults at him. After that, this is not just you acting out. What is happening to you, exactly?

You have been possessed. By the freakin Silk Queen. NO I AM NOT KIDDING.

Depending on how the route ends, it can be Camus himself or Saotome who is the one who swaps the souls in your character's body. One way or another, the queen taunts Cecil, as only a ultra powerful song would drive her spirit out, and the "power of love" he had for you just wasn't gonna cut it this time.

However, as he's driven to tears because of what's happened to you, he realizes something important (if you made the right choices):

The music is more beautiful than kiss...but combine music with the love fueling said kiss, and you are unstoppable.

So with the ultimate attack of EXPRESSING YOUR FEELINGS THROUGH SONG, the Silk Queen is blasted out of your body, and you return to it back to your prince in melodic armor.

While this route splits up the boy's relationship between both you and an icy senpai, there is still development of Cecil's character throughout this part of the story. He learns how to act like a citizen of the country he works in instead of a wide-eyed tourist. He learns how to work through jealousy of other people interacting with your character. And most of all, he discovers that while music and love are powerful tools, the product of these forces can be much greater than just the sum of their parts.

See you soon, Princesses and Princes!

[boatspeak]

4/5/17: Kappa Quartet

Kappa Quartet by Daryl Qilin Yam

It’s 9 am and I’ve just finished Kappa Quartet. I’m not sure what I think about it, because I’d always thought it would end cheerily. Slightly past the midpoint mark last night I noted: “The story grows on you. The characters come together in greater numbers and more frequently, and they meld together like members taking position in a symphonic orchestra.” In some senses the ends of some characters reflected their sad situations in life - sometimes something had to give, like in the trio’s case. There was quite a lot of irony, and sometimes there is the sense of people missing out on deeper conversations because they politely held back on pushing topics - like in the case of Mr Shimao and Ahab. Daryl weaves in quite a bit of detail in various places - dates and names that I miss because I’m still a skimming reader. This is a very vague and sparse review, I must say. 

In the earlier bits of the story I felt like some lines were dropped because they sounded poetic, the kind of line you wave your hand about and try to grab from the air and say wistfully. Perhaps because some of them didn’t strike me as being specific to the situation. They were apt, but they didn’t seem solely applicable to whatever was being talked about. A friend once said something about a Naomi Kawase movie about a town, that Kawase doesn’t explicitly state things. She shows them for a while, and if you haven’t gotten it by then she just moves on. Given the structure of Kappa Quartet, with each chapter narrated from the POV of a different character, and the characters featured dependent on the experiences of the narrator, readers are not made aware of the fates of all characters. We only know of what happened in the end to three out of the many characters, and while I was surprised at how the novel narrowed to a point in its conclusion given its number of characters, I wasn’t displeased by it because I had accepted by this point that Kappa Quartet wasn’t going to be the sunshine and roses story I assumed it would be. 

Man, what a lot of rambling on my part. Quick notes: 

There was a point where I thought that though humans do not have the cavities in their skulls Kappas have, quite a few human characters had deficiencies reminscent of those holes. 

Also, I noticed myself fearing Kappas “turning rogue” or causing trouble, or being the cause of trouble in some sense, which made me examine this form of xenophobia in me. 

~~~~~~~~~ more material below ~~~~~~~~

Senpai’s review: http://www.qlrs.com/critique.asp?id=1295

[expshared]

a little bit o’ spring anime season retrospective, a little late 👇

I’ve only watched 2.5 series involved in the Isekai Quartet but I was thirsty for Re: Zero content so I tuned in to this. I’mma be honest: this was fun. Crossovers are fun. I really enjoyed seeing funny skeleton man and Goddess of Dumbass interact, and I think equal time and attention was given to all parties involved, and that made it fun, too. It was accessible for someone like me whose knowledge of these shows was only tertiary and even if it had its questionable moments (Darkness I hate you so much), the sum is an enjoyable package. I question if this show could work with any other quartet of isekai heroes because all other isekai protagonists are boring af.

Watching Fruits Basket again makes me realize that I absorbed too much of Tohru Honda into my personality when I was impressionable and wee and never figured out that it was bad. Anyway this was a nice new coat of paint on a beloved series. The updated designs are nice to look at and the care given to the new material is evident. But it is considerably less…fun than the first incarnation and can I be honest? As a manga reader, knowing what I know about how the little love triangle pans out and watching it from the beginning? I just don’t like Kyo like I did when I was 12. Which, uh, wasn’t that much to begin with. Tohru deserves the world and the anime has a lot of work to do to convince me that Kyo can give that to her.

Fairy Gone takes its place alongside The Lost Village for being the biggest waste of time. In its favor: I liked the main character’s design and that she wore pants. Its sins: horrible clunky CGI I could not make out, way too many proper nouns, infodumps every episode, butt rock, a general disinterest in its main cast and their secrets. It expected me to care about a bunch of stuffy old men and their machinations when there were friends-to-enemies girlfriends in the background they weren’t even considering. I don’t remember who the assistant attorney general prime minister of Not-England is and I don’t care. The fact that this gets another 12 episodes is baffling, how anyone could anyone listen to another 12 episodes of dull political cud-chewing is beyond me.

Carole and Tuesday makes La La Land look like a plastic bag tumbling underneath a highway. Carole and Tuesday should win the Oscar for best everything. Carole and Tuesday is the best contemporary musical by a mile. Watanabe has been waiting 25 years just to make this show, and it’s a delightful cross section of everything that’s made his shows successful in the past—the slice of life futurepunk of Cowboy Bebop, the zaniness of Space Dandy, the ensemble cast of Samurai Champloo. It’s a pleasure to watch. I love seeing these girls underestimated and then blow everyone out of the water, it’s a consistent delight. The soundtrack is amazing and everything on it sounds genuine and legitimate—probably because it is. Netflix shouldn’t be keeping this one all to itself.  

Hitoribocchi was a sweet little gem of goodwill. Strange, anxious Bocchi’s quest to make friends with her equally strange classmates was funny, empathetic, and endearing. I love this cast of weirdo misfits and who among us doesn’t secretly hope their friends don’t forget about them when they’re sick oh thank goodness it’s not just me.

Senryuu Shoujo was a little cute, a little funny, a little heartwarming. It’s forgettable but a nice kind of forgettable, where you fondly remember it for five minutes and then move on with your life. It’s a short form series so if you’re in the mood for a quick n’ light shoujo about pining and misunderstanding, this is an easy recommendation.

I think I set my expectations too high for Sarazanmai. I wanted it to be the takedown of yaoi tropes like Yurikuma so gleefully pitchforked yuri tropes, but that wasn’t its project at all. It was Ikuhara’s most visceral work, but also, I feel, his most grounded in reality, which is a weird fucking thing to say about a show wherein three boys turn into kappas to go up the concept of someone’s butt. This was, decidedly, my least favorite Ikuhara title, which isn’t to say it’s bad. It’s just not Penguindrum or Yurikuma. Its scope felt smaller, its commentary less biting, its reveals less….revealing. Stand By Me is a bangin’ ED, though, I will Stand By That.

Kono Oto Tomare suffers from not knowing who its main character is. Surely it’s Megane Senpai, who starts the show off? But it’s not, it’s most assuredly Delinquent Guy, who is the emotional heart of the show and who definitely has something going on with our third main character, Prodigy Girl, leaving Megane Senpai the third wheel. This show just doesn’t start with its feet underneath it—it hobbles along an ungainly fusion of shoujo and sports anime and doesn’t do either tremendously. It does, however, have a heart, and this cast did eventually grow on me and I want to see them succeed. Protip: if your show is about an activity, please feature the activity. There is very little actual koto playing in this show and this is one of its biggest missteps. It’s a serviceable show, but not a great one.

I don’t drop a lot of anime but I dropped Cinderella Nine at episode 5 because it was just too ugly. It was so bad that I began to doubt there was an “on model”. There was just nothing going for it—the character designs were awful, the animation would pass as a power point, and the sportball was nonexistant. Non Non.

Dororo really let me down. I didn’t care for its ending at all, and in fact, sort of felt as if it nullified all the hard work of the prior 23 episodes. Having Dororo and Hyakkimaru part is a terrible decision. Nothing was learned. The payoff was not rewarding. Would have to point to Aldnoah to find an ending in recent memory I disliked more than this one. >:(/10

The show I was most hyped for every week was Demon Slayer. It didn’t start out swinging—Tanjiro’s origin story is unfortunately pretty par for the course in terms of shonen heroes, and the years-long training arc and time skip right after it was not the most inviting beginning. In fact, that’s where I dropped the manga when I tried reading it a couple of years ago. But ufotable makes this serviceable and by the fourth episode or so, I was completely sold. Something I loved about the manga was its unique artstyle and use of patterns and gradients—any other studio would have sacrificed both. Watching a fight scene in Demon Slayer is a joy. Characters ping pong around each other and footwork is fancy and weapons feel dangerous and the techniques look cool and require Tanjiro to puzzle them out. Also, Tanjiro is such a good boy. He drinks so much respect women juice. Every time an episode ends I’m disappointed I don’t have more to watch.

[uncgarchives]

In honor of Black History Month, the UNC Greensboro Cello Music Collection is featuring biographies of black cellists who have made an impact in the music world. We are starting this series with one of our university’s former faculty members, Ronald A. Crutcher. 

Dr. Ronald A. Crutcher served as professor of cello and head of the strings department at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro from 1979 to 1988. At age 17, he won the Cincinnati Symphony Young Artist Competition. As a Woodrow Wilson Fellow, Crutcher studied cello at Yale University with Aldo Parisot, serving as Parisot's teaching assistant. Additionally, he was the recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship, allowing him to study in West Germany with Siegfried Palm and Enrico Mainardi. Crutcher toured throughout Europe and the United States, making his Carnegie Hall debut in 1985. He was a founding member of the Chanticleer String Quartet and performed with the Klemperer Piano Trio, and with the UNCG Piano Trio. He held numerous positions as principal cellist. Among Crutcher’s recordings is the Barber “Sonata for Violoncello and Piano” with the Austrian Broadcasting Company in 1976. In 1979, he was the first cellist to be awarded a DMA from Yale University, after which he joined UNC Greensboro faculty. At UNC Greensboro, Crutcher carried a heavy class load of sometimes four to five classes per semester, including Applied Cello (MUS 051), Chamber Music (MUS 396), and Afro-American Music (MUS 344). He was heavily active on faculty committees, including the Academic Cabinet, the School of Music Council, and the Phi Beta Kappa Executive and Fundraising Committee. He also served on the committee to develop a Black Studies minor at UNC Greensboro. Within the greater Greensboro community, he served as a board member for the Greensboro Cerebral Palsy Institute, as a member of the Guilford College Board of Visitors, and he served as chairman of the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra Committee. Crutcher was a professional consultant for the North Carolina Arts Council and the Chamber Music/New Music Panel for the National Endowment for the Arts. After serving as acting Assistant Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs from 1988-1989 at UNC Greensboro, Crutcher was elevated to Associate Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs. Sadly, in 1990, Crutcher was lured away from UNC Greensboro, joining the Cleveland Institute of Music as Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty. Continuing a career of excellence, Crutcher held senior leadership posts at the University of Texas at Austin and Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. He became President of Wheaton College, where he also was elected chair of the Association of American Colleges and Universities. In 2015, Ronald Crutcher became President of the University of Richmond, where he continues his career-long commitment to higher education administration. However, Crutcher remains dedicated to his first love – music – serving as a professor in the School of Music at Richmond.

[the-end-of-art]

Stories through memories and imagination!

Also livestreaming Apr 19 7-8pm Singapore time! 🙌💖📚 Link below! Two ways to join: 1) Zoom: register at http://go.gov.sg/h2h (register with your myLibrary account) 2) Livestream will start a few minutes before 7pm at https://www.facebook.com/readingnationsg - About the Programme A moment of verse or prose to tease the mind, an invitation to enter the writers’ memories and imagination. Writers will read and discuss abstracts from their works. - About the Speakers Crispin Rodrigues is a poet, editor and educator. His most recent poetry collection is How Now Blown Crow (2021), a meditation on love, domesticity, ageing and death. He is currently working on a new poetry collection that deals with his mixed heritage. Daryl Qilin Yam is the author of the novels Kappa Quartet (2016) and Lovelier, Lonelier (2021), and the novella Shantih Shantih Shantih (2021). He is also an arts organiser / producer and sits on the board of directors at the literary charity Sing Lit Station. Inez Tan is the author of the national bestseller This Is Where I Won’t Be Alone. A Kundiman fellow and recipient of the Academy of American Poets Prize, her writing has been featured in The Rumpus, Rattle, QLRS, and the anthologies Best New Singaporean Short Stories Volume 4, A View of Stars, and A Luxury We Must Afford. She holds an MFA in fiction from the University of Michigan and an MFA in poetry at the University of California, Irvine. ineztan.com.  

[highly-opinionated-nerd]

~Musical happenings from the semester so far~

Work:

Things are starting to really pick up speed. I’m actually the one giving advice and stuff this semester, which is both a really quick turnaround and a very nice change.

My university’s faculty members of Pi Kappa Lambda (a national music honors society) do a recital every fall, and I stage managed this semester. There were three pages of performers and at least a dozen set changes and I was absolutely panicking the whole time. Thankfully it went pretty smoothly, but I never want to do that again.

There are two kinds of guest performers. The ‘shows up 20 minutes til with Starbucks and a let’s-get-this-over-with expression’ kind and the ‘Hi, I’m Blake, and I’m excited to be here!’ kind. The latter are always more fun to work with. I stage managed for a euphonium player named Blake last week and he was super nice, we had a great time backstage.

I ushered for our wind ensemble’s concert, taking tickets for balcony seating, which is where all the faculty usually sit. I had a new professor come up to me, while escorting our guest composer, and try to walk in without tickets. So I had to send him back downstairs to get tickets for the two of them, and he was late to the opening number (whoops). Directly after that a (decidedly not new) different professor walked right in without a ticket, saying “I’ll get one at intermission”. They are killing me you guys. If you’ve never been in a position that requires you to have responsibilities over that of college professors, let me tell you, it sucks.

Not work:

Speaking of our guest composer this fall, I’m gonna need all of you to support the work of one Mr. Viet Cuong, up and coming American instrumental composer. His music is incredible, and he himself is just all around a wonderfully sweet and enthusiastic person. It’s been a joy to play for him, really it has.

My individual studies are going pretty well! My tech lesson professor thinks that 1. my articulation is fine 2. my altissimo notes are great and 3. that I should maybe be looking into studying some Eb clarinet soon. None of which would ever, ever have been said to me even just a year ago

My other professor thinks my articulation has improved really well, and that I need to be challenged in my rep studies. He’s got me playing the Messager this semester which is...hard. Not sure how the studio performance in Dec is going to go, but I’ll do my best

OH also I recently had the fantastic opportunity to see internationally-acclaimed saxophonist Branford Marsalis and his jazz quartet in concert! It was a truly amazing experience. So much energy in that room. (The pianist looked like Mark Ruffalo, which I found hilarious. Imagine Mark Ruffalo wearing pink tinted shades and absolutely shredding on piano)

We’ve been listening to/watching a lot of exemplary music in my form and analysis class, which inspired me to quit procrastinating and finally put all of my fave performances into a single playlist, so I’m working on that at the moment! But I can’t find my favorite recording of Can Vei la Lauzeta Mover to put in it and I’m DISTRAUGHT about it.

I will be performing in a wind quintet later this month, playing a piece by one of my friends in the composition studio! I love playing music written by my fellow students. And this is my first time playing in a quintet, so I’m really excited about that!

In conclusion, I am very busy and Very Tired, but doing well. Progress is real, if you work hard you really can achieve anything, don’t let your dreams be dreams kids ; )

[speedfreak01]

so here’s a really interesting commission i got from @owlcat-poops, it’s a quartet of creature designs! 

these guys aren’t exactly part of any existing fictional universe (so they’re not fakemon), but they borrow a lot from things like pokémon, digimon and yo-kai watch! i call em “critters” for now

griff gave me some species (tapir and kappa) and a few small prompts (they told me they like plants and sweets) and really let me go to town on the concepts for these guys, which was a lot of fun to do! might offer these as a small regular commission service

(if you enjoy the work i do it would be great if you could commission me or buy me a coffee to help me get to tfnation 2018! i don’t have an infographic for drawings yet but watch this space)

[edvonstein]

Nitori

I am still trying to wrap my brain around the sheer amount of change in her character over time. from being a person hiding behind optical camouflage from humans to full on business tycoon and con woman. I am not particularly familiar with other kappa as seen in the mangas, but naturally my main headcanon would have to be that she was the first to come forth because she may be the most used to humans, having had business dealings already with a quartet of humans living not too far off in their own disguised research and development base. A quartet of humans who are more busy paying off their debt to her shrewd business tactics than making their own tech.

She does leverage them in her own development though, and does help keep them secret, not only from the other kappa, but also from the shrine at the top of the mountain. After all, she *is* a friend of the humans. *bows*