Where can I buy the Mable album 曙光?

See MR003 on http://mandarinelectron.com/modules/mrecords/index.php?content_id=2

I don't speak Japanese - does anyone know how I can get this CD in the UK? (I even asked in the legendary Amoeba Records when visiting San Francisco recently!)

I know you can download it on itunes. Or ask Masami about it for a CD.

Thanks. It looks like only the 6 track mini version is on iTunes GB, so I've emailed Masami. If there's any info, I'll post it here for the community.

I contacted Masami (address on http://www.mandarinelectron.com/theremin/english/matryomin/index.html), who replied very promptly, and accepts Paypal!

Chris, I don't mean this to sound cheeky but do you really enjoy listening to Mable? If so, what is it you like about it? Do you find the sound of the "matryomin" appealing?

Lydia played a few samples from the CD, and thought it was great. We thereminists are often eager to point out it's not a toy, but I see the matryomin as a really fun toy! That said, the idea of that many people being able to control a similar sound (and often pitch) so close and in unison is actually quite inspiring.

Also, much I love making the theremin 'utility', you can't beat "Also Sprach Zarathustra" for 'novelty'. Does it not put a smile on your face? :)

It's not theremin, it's not 100% serious; but I don't think it devalues the great Leon Theremin's work in a way. It's just an interesting/unusual record.

Well to me, when I hear Mable play the matryomin is not a toy either. The arrangements are amazing and those players are very good.
Hope you can get the album, it's one of my favorites!

MABLE seems to me to be one of those musical groups - reminiscent of djembe drum circles, autoharp orchestras and ocarina bands - that is really for the benefit and enjoyment of the participants themselves. These kinds of activities bring people together in the spirit of music and that is great, but the musical output is not really for general consumption. It is for those who are creating it.

The Russian doll "matryomin" is a musical novelty made out of a folk toy and it is the kind of thing the Japanese seem to respond to. "Hina Matsuri" is the very popular Japanese "doll festival" which is celebrated every year on March 3rd, so there is already a national affinity with the whole doll phenomenon in Japanese culture. There is nothing comparable in the west.

I wonder if the matryomin could ever see the kind of success in England, France or Germany that it has seen in Japan. I have trouble imagining an army of English matrons, all clad in white lab coats, each with her little stethoscope and Russian doll, embracing the matryomin with the enthusiasm of their Japanese counterparts!

I *think* I know the types of groups you mean coalport - I've been to one group devoted to one particular instrument, and found 45% think they're rockstars and play as individuals (not ensemble members), and 45% are just not that musical. I hope it doesn't sound too snob-ish to say the lack of ambition and self-awareness is depressing.
However, given the complexity of the theremin/matryomin, I struggle to believe Mable could be one of these groups. Whether or not you approve of the style, surely there's some skill in playing in harmony (or perhaps even more difficultly, unison!) on such a difficult instrument? Hearing multiple heterodyning instruments form a group is certainly something unique in this day (unfortunately contrary to what Leon Theremin envisaged as the future of music), and the quality of musicianship makes it enough for me personally to think it's something worthwhile for the 'outside world'.

I've only played matryomin very briefly (about 3 weeks after I even got a theremin), but found it easier to play than any other theremin. Given the funds, I'd love to try to make it world in England; I think if we're good at anything, it's being eccentric!

Looks like it may only be download still.
http://www.thereminworld.com/news.asp?cat=72
http://mandarinelectron.com/modules/mrecords/index.php?content_id=2
but maybe if you contact Masami directly you can get the hard copy.
http://www.mandarinelectron.com/theremin/english/works/index.html

good luck.