Fumio

Keyboard artist Fumio is one of the most popular artists in his genre, having released over 50 albums in Japan. In the late 1970s, Fumio studied acupuncture in Los Angeles and returned to Japan where he became a master and innovator in the field of music therapy. He was born and raised in the mountains of Nagano and went on to perform in the ground-breaking rock musical Hair. Founder of the Far East Family Band, Japan’s first progressive rock band, Fumio played alongside Kitaro and released the hit album Cave Down to the Earth in Japan and England.A Sonnet For Sake The owner of a sake (Japanese rice wine) factory had attended one of Fumio’s healing workshops and decided that if the music was intended to make living beings feel good, he might just try it on the living yeast in his sake-making process. Sure enough, when the speakers were installed and Fumio’s music played 24 hours a day, the yeast that once grew sporadically now grew uniformly. The sake won awards for its flavor and has since won the highest award, the gold medal, for its sweetness.Close To Cucumbers A Japanese farmer played Fumio’s music in his greenhouse of cucumbers. In Japan, cucumbers are rated by number based on their flavor. The normal cucumber rating would be around a 4. The sweeter the cucumber, the higher the number. The farmer found that those cucumbers closest to the speakers playing Fumio’s music in his greenhouse received higher ratings of between 5.5 and 7. Guidance from Duji Kakisaka A photographer friend was playing Fumio’s music on a trip to a holy site called Tenkawa (“Heavenly River”). The head priest Guji Kakisaka of Tenkawa heard the music and felt an instant connection with it. He requested a meeting with Fumio. They eventually met and this brought about a pivotal change in Fumio’s life. The two became very close, learning from each other. Gujisan advised Fumio to reside at Lizuna Mountain in Nagano Prefecture, coincidentally Fumio’s hometown and birthplace. Fumio took the high priest’s advice to return to Japan after residing in the United States. In his Nagano recording studio, Fumio continues his passion for creating peaceful music that touches people on an international level. Fumio composed the Olympic theme song which the city of Nagano presented in its successful bid to host the 1998 Winter Olympics. Fumio has performed at benefit concerts supporting environmental and social consciousness and on behalf of AIDS victims, and will continue traveling to the world’s holy places on his quest to provide healing music for the good of humankind and the natural world. Many Japanese attest to the therapeutic qualities of Fumio’s music, including teachers noting that lesson plans are enhanced, and therapists stating that treatments are elevated. Long ago, people lived in a different environment. Nature provided a rich symphonic backdrop: the melodic singing of birds; the gentle rustling of the leaves in the trees; the trickling of streams. As a respite from the complexity and accelerated pace of today’s man-made environments, Fumio’s music creates a way to regain that natural state. Fumio composes in a slow rhythmic pattern echoing the harmonious essence of nature’s vibrational energy. Just as on the acupuncture chart every point of the body is represented on the ear, Fumio uses tone, pulse, pitch, rhythm, and chords to create an environment that promotes a feeling of well-being. Listening to Fumio’s music can be a rejuvenating and revitalizing experience and goes well with meditation, visualization, study, work and sleep. In Memorium for Fumio Soundings artist Fumio Miyashita recently passed away in his native Japan. Fumio was born in 1949 in Nagano, Japan. He began his musical career in 1965 and found his way to an international career by touring overseas and studying the healing arts. Fumio is well known for founding the Far East Family Band which gave the young Kitaro his start. He then went on to perfect his particular brand of “Healing Music” which became extremely popular in Japan. He met Dean and Dudley Evenson when they toured Japan in the mid ‘90s. His releases on Soundings of the Planet are Meditation and Nature which carry his signature keyboard style.