Nodame Cantabile…

is one of those fantastic Japanese manga series which plays on Netflix. To say that the music is fantastic is to say less. What a series! And what music!! Once again I am totally and completely zapped by the way the East Asian countries have mastered Western Classical Music. Simply amazing….. and I feel that the depth they have been able to give Western Classical Music is unparalleled. They have not only learnt and become supremely proficient in an art form that has been the sole prerogative of the Western world, but have internalised it and I feel, they have added their cultural depth to it, colouring and shading it with their own heart, for music is first and last of the heart…I feel the difference - when I listen to a piece of Western Classical music played by the best philharmonic orchestras of the world, it speaks to me in one way, speaks to my brain, but when I listen to it as part of a K-drama series or a Japanese movie or series, played by Korean or Japanese musicians, it totally engulfs my heart… I have also heard Chinese students of Western Classical Music play the piano - it’s a totally different experience…