Shunzo Ohno wins overall grand prize in International Songwriting Competition
The 2013 International Songwriting Competition’s highest distinction, the Grand Prize, went to Japanese trumpeter Shunzo Ohno for his song “Musashi.” This is the first time in the 13-year history of ISC that the Grand Prize has been awarded to a songwriter in the jazz category. The International Songwriting Competition is widely recognized as the most prestigious and respected songwriting competition in the world. Jazz winners were selected by recording artists Joshua Redman and Boney James. Other category judges included Imagine Dragons, Martina McBride, Josh Turner, Keane, Jon Secada, Dido, Garbage, Darryl McDaniels, James Cotton, Jason Isbell, Anoushka Shankar, Monte Lipman (Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer, Republic Records), Dan McCarroll (President, Warner Bros. Records), Alison Donald (Co-President, Columbia Records UK), and more.
“It is vital for songwriters to be recognized for their talents and awarded the due respect for their accomplishments,” states Candace Avery, Founder and Director. “This year we have awarded our highest honor, the ISC Grand Prize, to a Jazz artist, and we applaud the importance of this genre in our musical landscape. The recipient, Shunzo Ohno, greatly deserves this honor, and ISC is proud to bestow this award on him.”
Shunzo Ohno is a virtuosic jazz trumpeter and an accomplished composer and arranger. One of the leading jazz trumpeters in his native Japan by the age of 19, Ohno moved to New York City in 1974 to perform with jazz legend Art Blakey & The Messengers. Since then, he has performed and toured with many more of the world’s greatest jazz artists, including Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Gil Evans, Larry Coryell, Machito & His Afro-Cuban Orchestra, and others. With numerous recordings under his own name as a leader, he has also appeared on over 30 more as a sideman and has collaborated on two Grammy winning recordings.
Ohno has been described as modest and seemingly shy, and he has overcome health challenges in his life that would have potentially ended any musician’s career, especially a trumpet player. Surviving both a serious car accident in which his teeth and lips were permanently damaged and a later bout of throat cancer which forced him to relearn his playing, he is a testament to determination and courage, even inspiring a biography and documentary in Japan about his life.
Ohno’s inspiration for the winning song came from a character in Japanese history, Musashi, who lived in the 1500-1600s. He was a writer, painter, and skilled swordsman who was undefeated. He was thought to be a deep thinker with an extreme sense of individuality and strength, and he traveled through the woods and mountains of Japan. Ohno says, "I wrote the song at a time in my life when a sense of courage was necessary. I was searching for that particular sense of courage, to be undefeated in the midst of what seemed impossible. I wanted to express that sense of being fearless in the midst of what may seem chaotic and unsupportive. I found in Musashi a pure vision of unique courage. It is my hope others might feel that sense of tenacious determination and courage – in an adventurous way."
Based in the USA and established in 2002, ISC awards more than $150,000 in cash and prizes to amateur and professional songwriters around the world. A total of 68 winners from 120 countries worldwide were selected from almost 20,000 entries. The grand prize winner is awarded $25,000 in cash (US) and an additional $35,000 in merchandise and services.
ISC is sponsored by: Presonus, Lowden Guitars, Marshall Amplification, Solid State Logic, Berklee College Of Music, Mrs. Fields Cookies, Airplay Direct, D'Addario, DiscMakers, Thayers, SongU.com, Sonicbids, The Music Business Registry, Indie Venue Bible, Celebrity Access, Tunecore, Independent Mastering, George Stein, Esq., Songtrust, and Taxi.
Source: Candace Avery, Founder/Director International Song Competition, Nashville, TN
Links:
http://www.songwritingcompetition.com/pressreleases