"I listened to the demo recordings for the “Ta Yu Ta I” CD. The track begins with the sound of a stone, and, for a moment I doubted my ears, thinking that it was the iwafue stone flute that I had lost overseas in 2005. The flute actually used on this recording was a replica on an ancient flute, one of three that have been handed down within my family. But until that moment when I heard the sound of it echoing inside my skull, I had completely forgotten about it. It was my living flesh that breathed into this flute, but even so I was overjoyed to have been gifted with this awakening for my distant soul.

H2AD choosing to place this particular sound at the opening of the piece makes me feel a sense of invigoration, a sense that I have successfully discharged my responsibility to the world. I have enjoyed long friendships with each of its members, but for me this was a most unexpected first sharing of sounds. If I were to compare the group to a river, it would be like multiple tributaries, each with their own unique colouring from the properties of the different geological strata they have flowed through. Each those tributaries with their own individual characters then flowed into and were interwoven naturally into one single river. A process of unforced interaction. “Engage with naked ears, please”. This is a phrase that I, with my complete lack of confidence, have often demanded of others in situations of sound creation, asking them to listen in ways unaffected by any pre-existing music.

In this session, it was precisely because everyone felt their way with “naked ears” that a chemical reaction took place, and I believe it was this ability that gave birth to the miracle you can hear. I am immensely grateful to have been able to participate in the session and to have been reinvigorated in this way." - Akio Suzuki