courtesy Suzue
This year’s Ted Talks x Kyoto featured an opening session with Suzue, a Shinto priestess at Ono Hachiman shrine. Rather unconventionally (she was born in Brazil), she also has a career as a singer-songwriter with Studio Kotodama, in which guise she adds a New Age spirituality to her music.
Her performance at the Ted Talks is now available on the internet here.
From her website is this self-description…
“Rev. Suzue was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 1978, and raised in Tokyo, Aomori and Kobe, Japan. In 2002, she released her first album,”Umashiashikabi”, which received critical acclaim in the press. In January 2006, she moved to New York as a goodwill ambassador priestess to propagate Japanese Shinto culture. In the same year, she performed at the opening ceremony in front of former Prime Minister Koizumi at the World Conference of Religions for Peace 8th World Assembly Kyoto and received a roar of applause.
In 2007, she held the recital in Carnegie Hall (NYC), and received standing ovation. it proved that there is no border in her musicality. Her concert was successful also in Brazil, Russia, China and Thailand.
She collaborated as a singer on the new album of the Grammy-nominated world-music group 1 Giant Leap, entitled ” What About Me? “, which released worldwide in the summer of 2008. She released her 2nd album,”Konohanasakuya”, in 2009.
Inspired by her poetic interaction with mountains, rivers, flowers and trees, she sings about the relationship between nature and humans, as well as the inner dimensions of human nature, so as to kindle in the people of Japan and around the world a sense of awe and appreciation for life. She is a descendant of Inazo Nitobe, the internationally renowned author of Bushido.”
Official website: http://suzue.asia/
Official blog: http://suzue-blog.iza.ne.jp/blog/
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