Fujii Bondai
藤井 凡大
1/2/1931 - 7/24/1994
Composer & Koto
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Bondai Fujii was a Japanese composer, conductor, and music educator. Born in Takeda City, Oita Prefecture, Japan. He learned koto music of the Ikuta school from his mother when he was a toddler. During his days at the former Fukuoka High School, he was influenced by Ishimaru Hiroshi, a conductor whom he met at the Fukuoka Chorus Association. He entered the Department of Shipbuilding at Kyushu University's Faculty of Engineering and graduated in 1953. While still a student, he began composing music. In the same year, he won first prize in the composition category of the National Traditional Japanese Music Competition sponsored by the Tokyo Shimbun with his piece "One Movement for Japanese Instrumental and Orchestral Concerto" (koto), and was awarded the Minister of Education Prize and NHK Prize. Since then, he was been active in composition and conducting, mainly for broadcast music. His works include "Symphony for Oriental Instruments: Journey to the West" (awarded in the Record Division of the Arts Festival of the Ministry of Education in 1967), "Itochiku Symphony," "Ise Monogatari Sho" and other Japanese instrumental music, "Nine Canons on Poems by Kitahara Hakushu," "Tsukushi no Warabeuta," choral music, orchestral works, etc. He has composed and arranged many pieces for NHK Educational TV's NHK educational TV program "Minna no Ongaku", "Nihon no Gakki", NHK's puppet show "Shin Hakkenden", and many other TV and radio programs. As a conductor, he formed the Japan Ensemble, an orchestra for Japanese instruments, in 1965. He became the permanent conductor. As an educator, from 1958 until his death, he served as an instructor for the NHK Traditional Music Teachers Training Association, the Western Japan Traditional Music Ensemble, and the Nippon Todo Music Training Association, as well as the permanent conductor of his alma mater, the Kyushu University Chorus Academy for Male Singers. He died on July 24, 1994 (age 63), and was awarded the Silver Cup on the same day. Musicologist Koizumi Fumio said of Fujii, "As his name suggests, Fujii Bon-dai is a monster, so elusive that he himself could not tell whether he came from a Western or Japanese music background, and yet he has such an intense passion for the East and a deep spirit of inquiry.
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Composed or Arranged