Haiku Music Challenge 20

Welcome to the twentieth iteration of the Haiku Music Challenge, hosted by Naviar Records.

In his late twenties Matsuo Basho moved to Edo (now Tokyo), where he joined the local active poetry community: he started writing under the name Basho after he received a basho (banana) tree from one of his students. Basho wrote in a particular form called haibun, a fusion of haiku and prose: his most famous haibun collection is The Narrow Road to the Interior.

The summer grasses
All that remains
Of brave soldiers dreams

This poem by Basho inspired nineteen tracks made by members of Naviar’s community. Here are three I selected this week for you:

Track: All That Remains (play it quietly)
Artist: ikjoyce
Genre: electronic

In this composition by ikjoyce, the sound of wind and ambient textures gradually merge to become a unique and enveloping sonic experience.

Track: Tsuwamono-domo ga yume no ato (兵どもが夢の跡)
Artist: Yum Haruki
Genre: ambient, soundtrack

With a more “wordly” atmosphere than the other songs inspired by Basho’s poem this week, Yum’s submission is a perfect soundtrack for the image evoked by the haiku.

Track: Summer Remains
Artist: Kyosuke Osaku
Genre: ambient, piano

Kyosuke’s evocative track evolves in slow-motion, giving the listener time to be fully absorbed by this beautiful soundscape.

Thank you for listening. Next week we’ll be posting music inspired by Natsume Soseki’s haiku:

the sky I see
seems full of
magnolia blossoms

The deadline to submit your track is 5 June. To find out more and participate, please visit the Naviar Records site.