I was so lucky to be a students of Dr David W Hughes. He was my teacher during my BA study in ethnomusicololgy and later on he was my PhD supervisor (togetehr with Keith Howard). David was first and foremost an Expert in min’yō or Japanese folk song but also other Japanese, East Asian and Indonesian musics. He was a great scholar but he was also such a great musician. I Learned so much from him not only academically but also as a musician and as a human being. The most amazing thing was I also became a friend of him and his wife Gina Barnes, who is a great archaeologist. Last week I was in a group of friends, who scattered his ashes in Thames River in a place where I have stood with him and Gina many times. I was very touching and I am so grateful to have been able to do this. I also played Tamuke for his at the river.

We had burger and milkshake in David’s memory

The next day, we celebrated David’s life at SOAS, University of London with lots of music