Tomoko Sugawara, born in Japan, studied the concert harp in Tokyo University of Fine Arts.

Born in Tokyo, Tomoko Sugawara began to play the Irish harp at age twelve and the grand harp at sixteen.  A graduate of Tokyo University with a degree in Fine Arts, Sugawara first took up the kugo in 1994.  She has performed on both the concert harp and kugo in many major international venues, including the World Harp Congresses in Prague and Amsterdam; Meiji University, The New York Qin Society, the Fifth Symposium for Music Archaeology, and at Berlin, Columbia, Princeton and Harvard Universities.  She was awarded a fellowship from the Asian Cultural Council during 2007 – 2008, and a grant from the Rohm Music Foundation in 2007.   She also recently performed for ILICA’s 7th Annual Cultural Event presented by AsianInNY.com.

Since 1991 has also plays reconstructions of the ancient harp (kugo) worldwide at major museums and concert venues. Tomoko plays an ancient harp invented nearly 4000 years ago in Mesopotamia.

Variously named “angular harp,” “chang,” “kunghou,” and “kugo,” the instrument on which Tomoko Sugawara performs can be seen in centuries-old Buddhist cave paintings and in artists’ depictions from countries along the trade route known as the Silk Road.

The unique kugo harp on which Sugawara performs is a twenty-first century reconstruction of an angular harp which is pictured on a reliquary box painted during the sixth or seventh century BC. The angular harp disappeared from the world stage some 300 years ago, was only evidenced in paintings from antiquity until Sugawara and her partner, music archaeologist Bo Lawrengren, brought plans for a reconstruction to luthiers Bill and Catherine Campbell, who worked closely with the pair to faithfully recreate a modern rendition that would honor the essence of an instrument that was revered for centuries.

Her kugo CD “Along the Silk Road” has garnered extraordinary reviews, e.g., T.J. Nelson’s review at WorldMusicCentral.com: “astonishingly striking…simply stunning, a sophisticated elegance wrapped around a harp.”

For more info: www.kugoharp.com