walking  waterSUSIE IBARRAMAKOTO FUJIMURA

walking  waterWalking on Water images began as Fujimura’s elegy to the victims of March 11th, 2011 Tohoku Great Earthquake and the Tsunami. The series 
continues now as a collaboration with visionary composer and avant-garde percussionist Susie Ibarra. Ibarra took an underwater microphone to 
Himalayan hills, to record the sound of glaciers breaking and melting, and uses that as the immersive backdrop to her composition. Walking on 
Water, therefore now, has become an elegy to the climate change crisis, as well as an homage to human resilience of hope in dire circumstances. 
Fujimura and Ibarra hope to install the paintings and the composed music in a series of museums and sacred spaces.
11 Spirituals were composed by Susie Ibarra to accompany Walking on Water paintings by Makoto Fujimura. This album includes two compositions 
created out of field recordings of water in Sikkim and India in the Himalayas. These field recordings are part of an ongoing project, Water Rhythms: 
Listening to Climate Change, a collaboration between Susie Ibarra and Michele Koppes (climate scientist, glaciologist and geographer).
Makoto Fujimura (b. 1960, Boston) is a leading contemporary artist 
whose process driven, refractive “slow art” has been described by 
David Brooks of New York Times as “a small rebellion against the 
quickening of time”. Robert Kushner, in the mid 90’s, written on 
Fujimura’s art in Art in America this way: “The idea of forging a new kind 
of art, about hope, healing, redemption, refuge, while maintaining visual 
sophistication and intellectual integrity is a growing movement, one 
which finds Makoto Fujimura’s work at the vanguard.”
Fujimura’s art has been featured widely in galleries and museums 
around the world, and is collected by notable collections including The 
Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo, The Huntington Library as well as 
Tikotin Museum in Israel. His art is represented by Artrue International in 
Asia. and has been exhibited at various venues including Dillon Gallery 
and Waterfall Mansion in New York, Sato Museum in Tokyo, The Tokyo 
National University of Fine Arts Museum, Bentley Gallery in Arizona, 
Gallery Exit and Oxford House at Taikoo Place in Hong Kong, Vienna’s 
Belvedere Museum, Shusaku Endo Museum in Nagasaki. He is one of the 
first artists to paint live on stage at New York City’s legendary Carnegie 
Hall as part of an ongoing collaboration with composer and 
percussionist, Susie Ibarra.
MAKOTO FUJIMURACredit: Windrider ProductionSusie Ibarra is a Filipinx composer, drummer/percussionist, and sound 
artist who creates live and immersive music that invites people to 
connect to their natural and built environments. Susie is passionate 
about working to preserve and support Indigenous music and culture, 
musika katatubo in the Philippines, and advocating for preserving 
freshwater towers with sound recordings and creation of new works 
focused around glaciers and fresh water. 
New works include upcoming album releases Rhythm Cycles, a drum 
solo performance commissioned by the Bagri Foundation and released 
with OTO Projects UK Nov 2020; composer portrait album, Talking Gong 
featuring solos, duets and trio for Claire Chase, Alex Peh and herself, 
Jan 22, 2021 on New Focus Recordings; Walking on Water 
commissioned for as a collaborations and installation with Nihonga 
and Abstract Painter Makoto Fujimura as a response to the climate 
crisis and released on Innova Records with Culture Care Creative spring 
2021; Fragility Etudes commissioned for the Asia Society Triennial June 
2021 both for her 6 pc band DreamTime Ensemble; Water Rhythms: 
Listening to Climate Change in collaboration with glaciologist and 
geographer Michele Koppes commissioned by Fine Acts Foundation and 
TED Countdown2020 on Climate Change; and duet LP with experimental 
guitarist Tashi Dorji for Astral Spirits May 2021. Susie Ibarra is a 2020 
National Geographic Explorer in Storytelling, a 2019 United States Artist 
Fellow in Music, 2018 Asian Cultural Council Scholar supported by the 
Rockefeller Foundation. She is a Senior TED Fellow and a Yamaha, 
Zildjian and Vic Firth Drum Artist.
SUSIE IBARRAPhoto by Tony Cenicola

YUKA C. HONDAComposer, Producer, Multimedia ArtistFounded the band Cibo Matto in the 90s, whose debut album on Warner Bros Records was “VIVA LA WOMAN”. Yuka 
has produced recordings by Cibo Matto, Sean Lennon, Martha Wainwright, Miu Sakamoto, Maki Nomiya (of Pizzicato 
5), and was the assistant producer on the Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band album “Take Me To The Land of Hell”. Recent 
works include an electric Opera called “No Revenge Necessary”, a duo CUP with Nels Cline, a composition for the 
New York youth choir group YPC, and a soundtrack for Japanese animator Yoriko Mizushiri. Yuka also created a music 
video with 3D animation for Nels Cline’s Blue Note single “Beam/Spiral”. 
YVES DHARAMRAJYves Dharamraj loves to perform, teach and inspire with the belief that cello makes everything better. The Franco-American cellist 
enjoys a multifaceted international career that takes him to stages large and small, from prisons to Carnegie Hall, alongside 
artists such as Itzhak Perlman and Sesame Street’s Bert and Ernie, performing works old and new, written down and improvised, 
spanning genres across classical and jazz to hip-hop and the experimental avant-garde. Dedicated to children’s education, 
social entrepreneurship and using music for change, Yves co-founded New Docta International Music Festival in Argentina, is a 
member of Carnegie Hall’s ensemble-in-residence Decoda, produces videos on social media to promote social justice, and helps 
mold tomorrow’s talent in his private studio, in guest master classes, and as Professor of Cello at Vassar College. 
CellistCLAUDIA ACUÑASinger, ComposerClaudia Acuña born in Chile, July 3 1971, 2019 Latin Grammy nominee for best jazz album with her album “Turning 
Pages”. Acuña moved to NY in 1995, soon establishing herself as a leading voice on the scene. With a wave of 
excitement, she rapidly transformed and created Latin American music with musicians from different parts of the 
country and the world .
JENNIFER CHOIViolinistViolinist Jennifer Choi has charted a career that breaks through the conventional boundaries of solo violin, chamber 
music, and improvisation. She has performed worldwide in venues such as the Library of Congress in Washington D. 
C., the RAI National Radio in Rome, Hong Kong National Radio, and the Mozartsalle in Vienna since giving her debut 
recital at Carnegie Hall in 2000. An award winning chamber musician, she has performed and recorded in a multitude 
of classical and creative improvisation collaborations, and premiered numerous works by composers such as John 
Zorn, Julia Wolfe, Elliott Sharp, and Susie Ibarra.
JAKE LANDAUMulti-instrumentalist, Composer, Sound EngineerJake Landau is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, sound engineer and field recordist based in New York State. He plays 
drums/percussion, guitar, piano and their extended families. Landau has a musical language and fluidity that blurs the line 
between his instruments as well as musical genres. Inspired by stillness and the natural world around him, he creates 
compositions that reflect his thoughts and observations and invite listeners in to a reflective and meditative space. Landau has 
worked extensively with Susie Ibarra including playing in her DreamTime Ensemble, field recording, sound engineering, and 
recording on many of her artworks including iOS app ‘Musical Water Routes of the Medina of Fez,’ ‘Water Rhythms: Listening to 
Climate Change’ and performing with her at the 2016 Rio Olympics. 
walking  waterJENNIFER CHOI, violinYVES DHARAMRAJ, celloCLAUDIA ACUÑA, voiceJAKE LANDAU, guitars, synthesizer & hammond organYUKA C. HONDA, electronicsSUSIE IBARRA, drumset & percussionIbarra’s DreamTime Ensemble performs and records these spiritualsThis ensemble featuresI would like to thank Mako Fujimura for creating this beautiful and powerful series 
of paintings and entrusting me to create music to accompany the work. Special thanks toall the musicians who played incredible music bringing light, hope and beauty amidst adifficult time during the pandemic. My gratitude to all that made this possible. 
- Susie IbarraSIDE A1. Elegy in Azurite2. Light East of Sendai3. Waterfalling4. Coastal Birds5. High Wave6. Natural Lightness7. Night Rain8. Divine Forgiveness9. Celestial MigrationSIDE B10. Floating Azurite11. New York with grace12. Listening at 
Himalayan Waterfalls13. Floating along BanaresCopyright Susie Ibarra ASCAP 
Recorded July 2020Jennifer Choi was recorded by Kevin S. Hahn at Opal Studio in Portland, OregonYves Dharamraj was recorded remotely in FloridaClaudia Acuña was recorded at Figure 8 Studios by Philip WeinrobeYuka C. Honda was recorded remotely in Franklin, New YorkJake Landau and Susie Ibarra were recorded at Spillway Sound by Eli CrewsWalking on Water Spirituals were mixed by Eli Crews at Spillway SoundMastered by Ryan Streber at Oktaven AudioWater Compositions were mixed by Jake Landau at Crossroads StudioField Records were recorded in support by the Asian Cultural Council RockefellerFoundation Fellowship 2018 and 2019 and a Bennington College Faculty Grant. Theraw field recordings were recorded by Susie Ibarra, Michele Koppes, Jake Landau,
and Rajesh Kumar Singh in 3 water towers of Easton Glacier, Washington State,
Ganges River in Banares, India and Sikkim, Himalayas. 
Innova Records with American Composers Forum 
distribute Walking on Water as a digital album. 
Director of Recordings: Chris CampbellManager of Recordings: Tim IgelInnova is supported by an endowment from 
the McKnight Foundation.
Susie Ibarra is a Zildjian, Vic Firth 
and Yamaha Drumset Artist
Walking on Water is commissioned by 
Culture Care Creative to create an immersive 
soundscape in collaboration and for Makoto 
Fujmura's Walking on Water painting series.