Sato No Uta
Mariko Awada (vo)
Shota Yamamoto (arr)
‘Sato No Uta’ (roughly translated as “songs from home”)is a musical unit who take their inspiration from Japanese songs for all generations, such as nursery rhymes and traditional folk songs, and turn them into fresh, modern arrangements. A new piece of music is distributed once a month on their YouTube channel, ‘Sato No Uta Channel’ accompanied by original illustrations.
Musicians
Yuu Nishihama (pf)
Daichi Kato (as)
Yoshitaka Yamashita (per)
AWADA Mariko
AWADA Mariko was born and raised in Japan. She began to learn the classical piano at the age of 3 under her mother’s instruction. But classical Piano wasn’t her main interest at that time. She started listening to jazz music at the age of 12, a decision influenced by her mother, an organist.
After entering Osaka University in Japan, Mariko joined an a-cappella group and she began to sing a-cappella and vocal jazz style music. After graduation, she worked at a company for 3 years. At the same time, she entered Koyo Conservatory in Nagoya, Japan. During that time at the conservatory, she received the prize fellowship.
After graduation from Koyo, Mariko was granted a world scholarship from Berklee College of Music. Finally, her passion towards music brought her to Boston. Since 2007 fall, she had studied singing techniques, music theory, arranging, composition at Berklee under Kim Nazarian (New York Voices), Anne Peckham, Lisa Thorson, Hal Crook, Darren Barret, Bob Stoloff. She granted New York Voices Scholarship from New York Voices Vocal Camp in 2009.
Mariko Graduated Berklee at the top of the list of Professional music department in 2009, and now she lives in her country, Japan. May 2010, she won a prize in a jazz vocal competition in Kobe. And October 2010, she won a first prize in a jazz vocal competition in Saitama.
She released her debut album “Marguerite” in Jan. 2012, and the second album “My Lovely Way” was released in March 2012.
AWADA Mariko just released the third album”That’s my way” in Nov. 2017.
Shota Yamamoto
Composer, arranger
As a resident of the Kyoto Composers Jazz Orchestra, Shota Yamamoto has released 11 albums as of 2017. In 2015, he formed Satonouta, with AWADA Mariko, modernizing Japanese children’s and traditional songs. Yamamoto has collaborated with the Mario Nandayapa Quartet (Marimba Nandayapa) and participated in their 2017 Mexico tour. He also composes for various musicians, theatrical productions and has published work.
In 2016, Shota Yamamoto received the award for the Hollywood Songwriting Contest 2016 Best Jazz Song, and an Honorable Mention in the International Songwriting Competition 2016. This was followed by receiving the American Songwriting Awards 2017 Jazz Winner award.
Yuu Nishihama
Yuu Nishihama studied piano at Aichi University of the Arts. Yuu won the honorable mention at 10th Japan Classic music concour. At present Yuu Nisihhama plays in various musical units such as ‘Trio Soleil’, ‘P-T-Bone’, ‘Lovish’, and ‘∞infini∞’ in addition to being accompanist on the piano in a number of music ensembles.
Daichi Kato
Born in Nagoya, Aich Prefecturei. Daichi Kato started studying piano at the age of 5. Whilst in junior high school, he joined the school brass band and studied clarinet under Yoshiyuki Kamei. Daichi changed to playing Alto Sax when he attended Aichi University. He studied saxphone from Hidefumi Toki and Masahiro Touryo, and also studied flute from Masatoo Yoshimura.
After completing a nationwide Japan tour with bassist, Eiji Nakagawa, Daichi released his first album, ‘First Connection’ produced by Eiji Nakagawa in 2011. In 2014, he released his second album ‘On the Way of My Life.’
Daichi Kato is extending his musical activities, collaborating with many musicians such as Peter Madsen, Phillip Strange, Ben Okada, Shintaro Nakamura, and Fukushi Tainaka. He released his newest album ‘Don’t stop Go ahead’ in 2017.
Yoshitaka Yamashita
Yamashita started playing drums when he was in high school. He attended Nagoya University. While at university, he joined a jazz big band and started playing jazz. He attended the Drummers Collective in New York, after graduating university. He studied various musical styles of drum set and percussion at the school.
Upon returning to Japan, Yamashita joined the club-jazz band ‘native’ and released six CDs and one EP. After leaving the band, he joined many sessions and bands.
As a member of the piano trio ‘Dear Blues’, he played at the “Festival eclats d’Email” in 2013 in Limoges, France. The trio released their most recent album ‘La Mesha’ in 2016.
Yamashita toured Italy in 2014 as a member of the band ‘TRISPACE’ and recorded in Sweden. In 2015, the band released their newest album ‘Nightfall’.
In 2016, Yamashita participated in Kaoru Tsubakida’s album ‘Mountain with No Name’ and following nationwide tour in Japan.
Yoshitaka Yamashita currently performs with a number of regular bands, in addition to various sessions and recordings in a wide range of music genres.
