AKIRAIFUKUBE.ORG

Erik Homenick with Kiwami Ifukube (the composer's son) at the composer's Tokyo home in July 2010

Thank you for visiting AKIRAIFUKUBE.ORG!

My name is Erik Homenick, I'm 34 and I live in Lakeside, California. I began this website on April 14, 2006 only a few months after Akira Ifukube passed away. As a long-time fan of this composer's film scores and classical compositions, I felt it was my duty to honor the life and history of this great artist, as well as make large amounts of information about him readily available in English.

This site represents years and years of research I have done into the composer. In the summer of 2010, I was most fortunate that this research took me to Japan to visit Hokkaido and see, firsthand, many of the areas where Ifukube lived and worked during his early days as a forestry officer and composer.

AKIRAIFUKUBE.ORG was featured on National Public Radio's Music Through the Night program in November 2010 and on NHK Radio Japan's Friends Around the World program in August 2011. The site has also appeared in several Japanese newspapers.

Aside from the music of Ifukube, I am also a huge fan of the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. In 2009 I attended the annual Sibelius Music Festival in Lahti, Finland. I also visited the home of Sibelius, called Ainola, which is now a museum.

Aside from music, foreign languages are a passion of mine. I have Bachelor of Arts degree in French and Linguistics from San Diego State University and I obtained the Diplôme de français des affaires (Diploma of Business French) from the Paris Chamber of Commerce. I have also studied the Finnish language for many years. I am currently pursuing a Master's Degree in French at San Diego State University.

I also enjoy working out, reading, traveling, radio communications and spending time with my dogs Molly and Lily.

Finally, a note about the whimsical hand-drawings that are obviously such an integral part to the design of this website. The frog, the bear and the crown were all sketched by Akira Ifukube. The image of the frog comes from a promotional flyer for Ifukube's first published work, Piano Suite (1933). The bear and the crown were drawn of the cover page of the original manuscript for Japanese Rhapsody (1935), Ifukube's first orchestral work. The drawings are earthy and distinctive, much like Ifukube's music, and they are fine representations of the composer's artistic spirit.

I sincerely hope you enjoy your visit to AKIRAIFUKUBE.ORG.