EMPUSAE I link the strength I have had to go up and down the tens of thousands of steps, to confront the heat and the hustle and bustle of the crowds, more and more directly with the nature spirit Ganriki. Empusae has a new album out. And as usual, it’s a masterpiece. ‘Pilgrimage to Ganriki’ tells the tale of a journey to the Ganriki shrine in Japan. Ganriki is the god of the eye in Shintoism, and mastermind Nicolas Van Meirhaeghe visited the shrine because he has been suffering from a rare eye disease for a number of years: retinis pigmentosa. The visit touched him deeply, and he felt it necessary to share these feelings with us in musical form. But let’s listen to what the master himself has to say about it. Your new album ‘Pilgrimage to Ganriki’ is about a pilgrimage to the Ganriki shrine – one of the Shinto shrines in Kyoto, Japan – that you undertook. Maybe you should start by explaining what that shrine actually represents and why you wanted to visit it? The Shinto shrine is part of the sacred mountain of Inari. The mountain itself is a stronghold with many gods or nature spirits – called Kami in Shinto – who descend from the three peaks of the mountain.The Ganriki Shrine is one of the shrines that you can find on the way to the top of the mountain. Not much is known about this shrine in question. Shintoism does not contain official scriptures like other religions. Ganriki could be translated as ‘god of the eye’ and is a magnet for Japanese people hoping for healing, www.peek-a-boo-magazine.be - 6 - rehabilitation and health of the eyes. Even in Japan this Kami is little known. My partner Christel Morvan – also known as Nesisart – discovered the scarce information about this on the internet years ago. On our last visit to Japan, last spring, we planned this visit without much belief that it would be worth it. But with my current eye disease,we figured we had nothing to lose. Mount Inari itself is a beautiful place, well known for its ten thousand Toriis – traditional Japanese gates that give access to a shrine –and many shrines and temples. The record tells the story of your journey. First and foremost, let me express my great admiration for this beautiful album. I hear a lot of oriental sounds and instruments. How did you approach that? Are they original instruments or have you worked with digital sounds and samples? Did you have an idea of the structure of the record before you started composing? The sounds and instruments are both my own, sometimes homemade, instruments, and virtual instruments from Japan. I absolutely had to process this intense experience into music. I have been guided by my feelings and by what it has done to my mind. The intention was not to create a finished product with a narrative structure. It was mainly intended as a
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