Tomoko Sugawara Harpist
Tomoko Sugawara was born in Tokyo, Japan, and began
playing the Irish harp at age twelve and took up the Concert harp at sixteen. Since 1991 she also plays reconstructions of ancient harps. Musicologists call it the Angular harp, and in Japan it is known as the Kugo.
Invented in Iraq about 1,900 B.C. the instrument spread far and wide. In East Asia the instrument arrived on the Silk Road 550 A.D. and lasted 600 years. In western Asia it died out 1700. With harp scholar Bo Lawergren she tries to bring it back to life. She plays music from the time the harp flourished (800-1000 A.D. in east Asia, and 1300 A.D. in Persia) as well as pieces recently composed for Tomoko Sugawara. She now lives in New York City.
Tomoko has given numerous solo recital on both the Concert harp and the Kugo in major international venues, such as the World Harp Congress, Indiana University, the Symposium for Music Archaeology Berlin, Columbia University, Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University and The British Museum.
Tomoko Sugawara, New York
E-mail: tomoko@kugoharp.com
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