The pear-shaped biwa lute has enchanted listeners in Japan for centuries. Played with a large wooden plectrum, the instrument has four or five strings of twisted silk stretched over four or more deep ...

This article is part of a two-part series. To learn about a shamisen, koto and sanshin master and his music lessons, see here. The biwa is one of Japan's many wagakki (traditional musical instruments) ...

With his back straight and his head up, Thomas Charles Marshall sits down in an arbor overlooking a lotus-filled pond on the compact but verdant campus of the University of Creation; Art, Music & ...

Masaaki Yuasa’s animated musical channels David Bowie to tell the tale of two outcasts in medieval Japan who find redemption in the liberating power of music. By Patrick Brzeski Asia Bureau Chief ...