MU was a contemporary dance drama based on a Japanese legend about a lonely, young, man from the Land Above who journeys to the Land of the Dragon Queen in the Deep Blue Sea, falls in love with Mermaid and learns from the Sea People that we are all connected. No one is really alone; each grain of sand is part of the beach, part of the earth, part of the universe. The score for MU, written by Emmy-award winning composer Mark Izu, lifts off from his handwritten graphic notation, a melding of his love of jazz and ancient Japanese music, and the live improvisation of musicians who have worked together for years.

These include Izu playing the sho, an ancient Japanese court instrument which has 17 pipes and 15 reeds, and requires strong lungs to produce its haunting, atonal notes. The score also calls for three types of Japanese drum, a 13- and a 17-string koto, the shakuhachi bamboo flute and four Western instruments: the double bass, trap drums, saxophone and flute. Percussive sounds emit from a thumb piano, a beaded gourd, a Chinese opera gong filled with ball bearings and handcrafted drum mallets which, when rubbed on drums and koto strings create a sorrowful sound that Izu uses to represent a whale crying. Coming soon to iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, and Amazon Music.

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