CEX43

Zeami – For Leif

Bengt Berger or K. Sridhar

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“Thank you, Leif Sundberg”

01 TODI INVOKED 3:20 feat. K. Sridhar
02 HITOMARU 1:08 feat. Lina Englund
03 ZEAMI 2:43 feat. K. Sridhar
04 KAGEKIYO 5:08 feat. the drummers
05 TODI FAREWELL (3:14) feat. K. Sridhar
06 HITOMARU – INSTRUMENTAL (1:10)
07 ATT HÖRA EN RÖST (10:50) feat. Leif Sundberg

During 1999 Leif Sundberg and myself conducted a workshop at the Stockholm University of the Arts – Department of Acting, around Zeami and his works, trying to learn something relevant for us here today. Later we did a play for Swedish Radio with an adaption by Ingegerd Monthán. Here is some of that music. The album is concluded with an exercise we did where Leif tries to keep the intensity of a short poem of eight lines, “Att Höra en Röst (To Hear a Voice)” only supported by an extremely slow percussive breathing pulse. He kept it up for eleven minutes!

Att Höra En Röst

Att höra en röst
Att höra och inte kunna se
Arma blinda ögon
Jag lät henne gå förbi
Jag sade henne inte mitt namn
Av Kärlek
Kärleken höll mig tillbaka
Kärlekens band!

ENGLISH TRANSLATION

To hear a voice
To hear and not be able to see
Poor blinded eyes
I let her pass me by
I did not tell her my name
Out of Love
Love held me back
The bonds of Love!

Musicians

K. Sridhar, sarod 1, 3, 5
Håkan Nyqvist, trumpet 1, 3, horn, 3
David Wilciewski, flute 3, clarinet 1,2,3,5, tenor sax 3
Mats Öberg, piano, 1,3
Torbjörn Zetterberg, double bass,1,2,3,4,6
Bengt Berger, percussion 1,2,4,5,7
Thomas Mera Gartz and Ola Ragnar, percussion 4
Lina Englund, vocal 3
Leif Sundberg vocal 7

Info

Music by Bengt Berger.
Hitomaru and Att Höra En Röst, text Ingegerd Monthán.
Mastering by Claes Persson, CRP Recording
Photo Joakim Strömholm
Masks by Thanos Vovolis and Arne Högsander
Graphic Design by Jon Edergren, SPEKTRA Design
Release date July 18, 2025

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Downloads and streaming from July 18

Zeami Motokiyo (c. 1363–c. 1443) was a Japanese actor, playwright, and theorist, widely considered the founding figure of Noh theatre. Born into a family of performers, Zeami refined and elevated Noh from a form of popular entertainment into a classical art with deep aesthetic principles.

He wrote numerous plays and over 20 treatises on acting and dramatic theory, the most famous being Fūshikaden (“The Transmission of the Flower of Acting Style”). His ideas—such as yūgen (mysterious grace) and hana (the “flower” of performance)—remain foundational in Japanese aesthetics and performance art.

Zeami’s influence extends far beyond Noh, shaping centuries of Japanese theater, poetry, and even modern performance theory.