Stay Away from the Water: Ron Korb with Hiroki Sakaguchi and "River Child (Kappa)"

Today's random song is by Ron Korb with Hiroki Sakaguchi, called River Child (Kappa). The song refers to the Kappa, a mythical Japanese water spirit/demon/imp used by Japanese parents to warn their children of the dangers of rivers and lakes. Roughly humanoid in appearance, they have a kind of shallow depression on the top of their head filled with water and is the source of their power. Their tricks range from the relatively harmless such as looking up women's kimonos to malevolent including killing and rape. But they can be rendered harmless and even indentured to humans, and they have a particular Japanese sense of decorum that binds them to keep their oaths. Ron Korb is a Canadian flautist, recording artist, producer, composer and songwriter who has released over 30 solo albums and has also written songs for major Asian performers. He has mastered a variety of wind instruments and is known as Dragon Flute, Thunder Blessing and Prince of Flutes in China, Taiwan and Japan, respectively. You can find River Child (Kappa) on Korb's 1992 album Japanese Mysteries where he is joined by Hiroki Sakaguchi, a Japanese composer and pianist who composed five of the 13 songs that appear on the album.