Leyna Marika Papach is a composer, interdisciplinary artist and violinist from Japan and the United States. With music being her central lens, she has created a body of work that spans across theater, dance, poetry and the visual arts. Her many works have been presented in Europe, Japan, West Africa, US, and her projects and creative explorations have been supported by programs such as the MAP Fund, NEA, HERE Arts Center, Minnesota Opera, Brooklyn Arts Exchange, ACF and others. In 2024, she received the McKnight Composer Fellowship.
Hello, my name is Leyna Marika Papach, I am a composer and interdisciplinary artist. I have for you a collection of music that I put together by kind of scanning over my life and picking pieces that stood out as music that stopped me in my tracks because it was beautiful or there was something about it that kinda sucked me in. And they’re all music that I ended up spending a lot of time with.
There’s so much music that I’ve been so blown away by or I’m so impressed with or even love. But within that, there’s always, for me at least, a small sliver of music that I can spend my daily life with or keep coming back to as some kind of reference to myself or it represents something that’s essential to me, it’s like my home. So these tracks are that for me. It was hard to narrow it down to nine, obviously there’s so much more. I tried to pick artists that were not mainstream and, yeah! So, please consider it like a sliver of my listening life and I hope you enjoy it.
Ceremonial: An Autumn Ode by Tōru Takemitsu, Performed by Mayumi Miyata
The first time I heard this piece was live in Japan (with Mayumi Miyata as the soloist), and I fell apart in my seat, moved by the sound of the shō (Japanese mouth organ). This piece shifted my direction forever, and I started studying traditional Japanese music because of it.
Bi Lamban by Toumani Diabate, Performed with Ballaké Sissoko
Toumani Diabate is one of my all-time favorite musicians, and he plays the kora –– my other favorite instrument (next to the shō). His musicality is deeply delightful, and I am so grateful that I got to see him live before he passed.
‘Automatic Writing’ by Robert Ashley
A friend I was visiting in Berlin set me up with headphones one morning and said, ‘Here, listen to this’. Parts of me never wanted to come back from this world. I say no more. I strongly suggest listening to it with headphones.
IS SUICIDE A SOLUTION? EP by Coil
I can only speak to the first side of this EP, Is Suicide a Solution? (which ends at 5:26), but when I hear that ‘sound opens portals’, I think of this piece. The darkness of this sound-world contains so much humanity and close-to-home frequencies of the analog era –– it really hits home for me. I’ve come back to this piece as a reference for many of my projects.
Imperial by Unrest
This album was a permanent resident in my car stereo throughout my college years. It’s hard for me to find an album out there that sounds as good as this. Unrest’s music doesn’t take energy to listen to, but gives me something essential, like some playful warmth… This is just one track on an album that is best listened to all the way through.
Protection by Massive Attack, featuring Tracey Thorn
What can I say, but that I love everything about this song, as well as the entire album. I’ve lived comfortably with several albums by Massive Attack, because the music opens a vast, dynamic, relaxed space where I can still have room to swim around in my own thoughts.
Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & the London Symphony Orchestra
I will be the first to admit that I am not a person that enthusiastically adds new music to my playlist, but when I heard this collaboration between Floating Points and Pharoah Sanders (which came out in 2021), I felt like I found a long-lost world I’ve been missing.
“Kalimankou Denkou” (“The Evening Gathering”) by the Bulgarian State Television Female Choir
The way these women sing, the harmonies of these Bulgarian folk songs, and the incredible energy on this album has the power to cut through anything. This music stopped me in my tracks when I first heard it in my 20’s and I go back to it often. I just hope that this music gets preserved and passed down forever.
CRATER by Leyna Marika Papach and Nitin Mukul
I thought I’d share one of my favorite past projects that draws influence from music on this playlist. I created this soundscape for visual artist, Nitin Mukul’s film, Crater. It’s a 19 min slow-burner, and it was written for violin/viola and electronics. It was shown as an installation but also performed live at the Queens Museum for the Queens International 2013, in NYC.
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