In October, 2008, suddenly a feeling came to me: “I’ll made a CD.” Before that, I kind of had a feeling that. “someday I’ll make a CD” or “over time a CD may happen to me, maybe?”. But suddenly that changed to “I’ll make a CD now!” Those two feelings appear to be similar but actually they’re quite different. I didn’t know anything about making a CD and had no capital to do it. How am I going to make it? The possibility looked very dark, but the decision “I’ll make one!” stayed with me. Then things just went in that direction that I would make a CD in the future. (Maybe the Pulling Principal that is popular now might have kicked in?)

Then the people who helped to make it happen appeared and somehow it was becoming a reality! If I planned it in my head, from scratch, it would not go like this. It was fine as long as it was merely a plan, but in time, it would become a worry and “I don’t have this and can’t do it.” or “This is not lined up and I can’t do it.” and “it’s impossible”. And that leads to “I’ll do it some day.” And that all ends up with not being able to make my CD. Since I got that strong “Let me make my CD” feeling, and the time I have my own CD in my hand, the time has passed by so fast. Before I knew it the new year came and I am surprised that it’s already spring! Because of various peoples’ help, really, the CD was actually made.

The theme of this CD is “Me Now”. As I’m playing and writing for morin huur, I would like to study more Mongolian folk music or I would like to try this genre or I have various things in mind. But excluding “in the future” or “in the past” it’s me now. For those reasons I decided to make the CD mainly with my songs. Because morin huur (batohkin) is not known as of yet, there could be a choice of selecting morin huur-like songs or folk songs, or me now. And looking at what came out, I later noticed that the CD has no photos or illustrations of morin huur.

Piano Tets-chan Tetsuo Norioka

Jazz piano player, Tets-chan is, usually a quiet person. He is always cool and calm. It’s interesting when he plays he mutters to himself and a hidden emotion comes to the surface. It appears that he has no connection to Mongol but every year as his backup musician work, he has visited Nei Mongol and Mongol – actually he is a maven of Mongol. Tets-chan’s piano arrangement is really fantastic. A melody is not very detailed but he support it so that the melody becomes wonderful. My voice teacher of 10 years praised Tets-chan’s supportive power while saying “About Mihoko-san’s CD, of course Mihoko-san’s melody lines are beautiful but if the power of Mihoko-san is 3, the pianist has 7.”, “No, no, Mihiko-san is 2 and piano player is 8?” That is right.

Sound Design Tom Toeda

When I first met him he had a large belly and a long wavy ponytail. What? An Indian guy?, I thought. And people call him “Tom”. I had to ask him “What are you? it isn’t strange but he didn’t sound fluent, and that added to my feeling of oddness. (He was saying also that editing Japanese is not his forte because he lived in New York so long.)

Tom-san who said “Sound is my life.” Quite honestly I had no idea about sound or recording techniques and he taught me so much, and very politely, about what kind of work it was. Have listened to what came out, I really was lucky having to met Tom-san. Again if I had gotten a comment from a person who knows much about audio, it would be “Miho-san’s power is 3 and Tom-san’s 7.”I would turn defiantly and say that it is amazing that I was able to meet such 1st class people. Because my level of understanding about recording was to play in the good sounding hall and use reasonable equipment, that would be fine, right? I learned that the 3-dimensional sound as an audience hears in a hall would become 2 dimensional when merely recording it, he said.

“CD is a virtual world.”
I see…!

I was thinking to ask him to record it as natural as it could be but with his words it changed to “Ah, it is about creating a world.” This is what it means to make a CD. It is so interesting, I felt. He is a person who lead me to think what kind of world do I want to make from merely “Let me make a CD.”

Web Design Terri-san Terri MacMillan

Terri-san is not a Japanese. She is an American. However when the members for the recording gathered at the music hall on the recording day no one looked like Japanese. “What kind of tribe are they?” Of course there were two that were from foreign country. Terri-san is a huge person that her size of both body and soul perfectly fit. She always has eyes that look surprised and laughs in her body. She always walks around with a laptop saying “The internet is so interesting! You can connect with people all over the work and can do so many things!”

During the recording, she was listening to my music in an audience seat for the first time and said “Somehow a whale came to my mind as I was listening!” Her surprised eyes were even more surprised, and she continued “Like a canyon kind of place? I feel like riding horse through there? Perhaps a long time ago? What is this – it’s so interesting!” She was happily surprised. She is supporting Obama-san reaching out to others with his website and during the campaign, she was right besides him on TV.

“Bush? What is that? He is Yabai Yoh! Dame!”(He is not good, not at all!) Lifting up her voice. “Asoh-san? Him? Is he ok? I don’t know.”
“But morin huur? It’s so beautiful!”
She showed me promotional sites of various companies and artists and a state in America that she made sites and projects for, and I felt she had a good sense. And that is why I decided to work with her for my web site.

Morin Huur and Topshur Bull-chan Chi Bulgoude

It was Bull-chan to begin with who said “Why don’t you make a CD, Miho-chan?” A year ago, was it? Back then my feeling was “No way!” But because I suddenly said “I’ll make it!”, it was very hard for him, I would imagine.
It started as me playing a couple of songs with him as a duet. And in the wake of opening Mihama Hall in Chiba city, we started concert series called “Two Morin Huurs” and that motivated me to perhaps make a CD. And as I keep playing in tiny live performances in my own city, my own style was developing. Now I perform here and there and I’ve become a solo morin huur artist.

That is why Bull-chan is my morin huur teacher, a life partner, foster parent, my catalyst and so on. He is the person who contributed the most for me to become Miho, an artist.
As I become more independent, I see more of his burden and talent. For one thing his father, Chi Borag who has a reputation of the world #1 morin huur player and that is why Bull-chan’s burden is no easy matter. But on the other hand I would imagine what he received must have been so great. He’s been saying “It is my dream for my father, myself and my sons to get on a stage and perform together.” I thought to take the plunge and ask him “What about me?” but it is a cornball question.

Jacket Photos Yo-chan Yoshito Shiba

Actually he is my cousin’s husband. Of course he is a professional photographer.
For the brochure of “Two Batohkins” concert, he did the photography and design and came out really good. I always get asked and praised about him. “Who took the photo?” and “Who designed it?”
His photos of the Kuju Kurihama Beach of Chiba looks like Mogolian grass fields. This jacket photo too was shot in Yachimata of Chiba and actually is my backyard porch. I asked him to take photos of view from there. However it was winter and there was absolutely no green and although it wasn’t a good condition to take photos but because “A Song of Wind and Sky”, the first song on the album was made viewing this view which I love so much, I had to use this view for the Jacket. In the bank of my mind, the view was the same as Ozegahara.
When we did trial shots I put on pair of black boots and sat at the edge of porch and it came out really good. Then again on the day of real shoot I wore the same black boots, but he said “Ah, Miho-chan, maybe not boots?” And it was a warm fine day even though it was in the middle of the winter, so thin clothing was just enough, as you see on the jacket.
I wasn’t thinking about what to wear myself. Yo-chan said “Perhaps white is good? Color would not work.” And I changed my clothes in a mad rush.
Being told to pose I wondered “but how would I do that?” As I was feeling “Oh I’m so embarrassed!” he kept on shooting.
As I looked at photos later on, the ones that I was conscious of being shot were no good at all and the best ones were ones that I did not think I was being shot and when I was feeling the fine day.
I think I am not a pro as a photographer’s model.
And it means that Yo-chan is a pro all in all.

Jacket Title Umeko-san Umeko Masumoto

She was our calligraphy teacher when I was a Sr. High student.
It was a boarding school that was deep in the mountains of Yamagata. Ume-chan (the name we were calling behind her back) was an active high school teacher at 100 years old. This calligraphy “Kaze” on the jacket too was done in her 100th year. Hanako-sensei who was cuddling up to Umeko-sensei is a younger sister of my grand father and Umeko-sensei’s son’s wife, as well. She was my music teacher. Before every class started she said “Close your eyes for a minute. Listen to the sound of the earth!” I still remember those moments with my class mates (everyone was burned out in the classroom from using all our energy farm) with our muddy selves, became energetic (because we did farming and stock raising)and listened carefully to the clump of trees, feeling the breeze, the sound of the limpid stream down below us, the voices of insects back then.
She left us when I was still there. Her face was so beautiful and I thought “Ah, Ume-chan has gone to the God.” She used to tell us “When I die please sing a Hallelujah and do Banzai?” When she left was when I, along with my classmates, were just practicing the chorus on our own. As we learned the news, we sang the Hallelujah with all of our might.
Did I get permission to use her calligraphy? What about the copyrights? I was asked. “Oh my God!” As I rushed calling Aunt Hanako, she said with a relaxed voice “Yes, yes, it’s just fine. It would be an honor for that to be used.”
After I graduated, every time I call back home, I realize that a different time is flowing between there and here. And I feel I could go back that time.