“Enter the haunted world of Japan in this spine-tingling collection of ghostly tales told and retold across the centuries.

From goblin-infested caves and haunted tombs to vengeful spirits and strange, sinister happenings, ancient Japan was a country and culture that existed between realms: the world of the everyday and the world of the supernatural. It was a place where men could be brought down by karmic forces or lured into deadly danger by ghostly apparitions, and where the land held sorrowful secrets or stories that long awaited an opportunity to reveal themselves and seek reparation.” (Book: The Snow Ghost and Other Tales, Penguin Random House, UK, Vintage Classics 2023)

In her compositions on Ukiyo-e art, Svetlana used the pentatonic/heptatonic mode of Japan’s music language in combination with European contemporary harmony. She reflected on the different sides of the characters, sometimes juxtaposing fear with humour (as in Skeleton Specter), sometimes sorrowful (“A Woman ghost appeared from a well” by K. Hokusai), or meditative/heroic (Benkei), a love story (Toad’s and Slug’s magic), and sometimes in the genre of lament as in the last composition (“Tametomo Rescued by Tengu”). Many of the Yōkai in the app were people before they became ghosts, legends, myths or stories.