I
n Kyoto, a few days after “Islands of Words” was performed at an open-air venue prepared by the sponsors and organizers, Kazuko Ozawa and Lance Blume kissed for the first time. Their initial congress of tenderness occurred as they walked on the popular path through the Arashiyama Bamboo Grove, where stalwart armies of soaring green stalks all but shut out the sky.
It had been several months since Luis Cortez’ poetic suite was first performed in Tokyo. Now it had become the main feature of the Kyoto International Music Festival.
Koto and shamizen still provided the magical wisps of local tradition that helped keep the audience bound to the pleasure of watching and hearing the exultation of words, Luisito’s words. They narrated a freshly fabricated myth now spun on a broad stage with al
