Zvukem dýchat: Akiko Sakurai + Marek Kimei Matvija

Concert of Japanese music dedicated to samurai tales and sound meditations.
Japanese biwa virtuoso Akiko Sakurai will appear as a special guest at a recital by Marek Kimei Matvija, a Czech master of the shakuhachi flute [shakuhachi]. Through singing and the biwa, Akiko Sakurai will bring the stories of the Heike Monogatari to life. The sound of the shakuhachi flute will, in turn, evoke Japanese spiritual music, both ancient and contemporary.

Heike Monogatari (The Tale of the Heike) is one of the most important epics of Japanese literature, originating in the 13th century. It recounts the rise and fall of the powerful Taira (Heike) clan during the Genpei Wars and their defeat by the Minamoto clan. The work is deeply imbued with the Buddhist idea of impermanence (mujō), famously expressed in its opening lines about the transience of the world.
Heike Monogatari holds fundamental importance in Japanese culture: it shaped historical consciousness, the ideal of samurai honor, and an aesthetic of tragic beauty. For centuries it was transmitted orally, especially by blind monks (biwa hōshi) who accompanied the recitation with the biwa lute, and it continues to influence literature, theater, music, and modern art in Japan today.

Akiko Sakurai
A graduate of the Tokyo University of the Arts (Tokyo GEIDAI) and a laureate of the Japan Biwa Music Competition, as well as a recipient of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Encouragement Award and the NHK President’s Award, she has participated in numerous nationwide artistic tours and stage performances, and has contributed music to films, animation, and video games. She has appeared on NHK radio and television programs and has given traveling school performances at more than 100 schools. She was the first to perform Tōru Takemitsu’s November Steps in South America. She has performed in Hungary, Indonesia, China, South Korea, Hong Kong, and other countries, as well as in Salvador (Brazil), the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Italy, Switzerland, Albania, France, Tunisia, and Spain.


Marek Kimei Matvija
Marek Kimei Matvija is a filmmaker, music dramaturge, and master of the shakuhachi, a flute of Japanese origin. He studies traditional Japanese music under the guidance of Master Kifū Mitsuhashi, who bestowed upon him the master’s title and the name Kimei (貴明). Marek thus became the first Czech in history to receive this recognition. Since 2022, he has been teaching shakuhachi at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (HAMU).
 Alongside Japanese music, Marek is also passionate about improvised and contemporary music; he is a member of the microtonal trio Quarter to Three and the Topos Kolektiv, which creates music for specific sites and spaces. He is also the artistic director and a co-founder of the International Shakuhachi Festival Prague, a founding member of NEIRO – Association for Expanding Arts, and a member of Kifū-kai and the Nihon Sankyoku Kyōkai. Marek Matvija graduated from FAMU in Prague and has performed throughout the Czech Republic and Slovakia, as well as in Germany, Portugal, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Hungary, Poland, the USA, and Japan. In 2023, he performed at the National Theatre in Tokyo.