Midaregami

Midaregami, Salazar's most recent composition is a song cycle that sets the poetry of Japanese poet Akiko Yosano. Salazar was drawn to Yosano's poetry in the summer of 1996 during one of his visits to Japan. The title of the work was taken from a collection of Tanka that Yosano wrote around the turn of the century. Midaregami (tangled hair, disheveled hair) ought not to be viewed as the slovenly or unaesthetic appearance of a woman's hair ... in the days before World War I, the image of a woman with even slightly disorder hair had a peculiar aesthetic and erotic association. H. H. Honda, in his small volume The Poetry of Yosano Akiko, translates Midaregami as "Hair in sweet disorder". Midaregami's poetry is powerful, sensual and erotic; equally, the music is full of sensuality and colorfulness that depicts the poetry. Salazar took the hard task of setting the poetry in its original language, striving to preserve the nuances of the words. The choice of instrumentation was in many cases suggested by the poetry itself. The flute and piccolo are a counterpart to the Japanese bamboo flutes shakuhachi and fue; and the harp to the koto. The percussion instruments and viola also help to create a sound-world of sensual and mysterious colors that are appropriate to Yosano's poetry. The song cycle Midaregami is dedicated to Ikuko Osawa.