Keiko Abe, born on April 18, 1937, is a Japanese marimba player and composer. She began playing piano as a child and started learning the marimba at age 12. Her breakthrough came when she won an NHK talent competition at 13, leading to regular appearances on Japanese radio. In 1962, she co-founded the Xebec Marimba Trio, which performed commercial light classical, pop, and folk music. She later transitioned to contemporary classical music, establishing the marimba as a serious solo instrument through her compositions. Abe released several albums, including Marimba Selections II (1984), Imagination 想, which features the song "Lullaby of Itsuki" (1985) with Walter Van Hauwe, and Marimba Selections III (1987). She also composed numerous works for marimba, such as Wind in the Bamboo Grove" (1984) and"Prism Rhapsody" (1995). Abe has taught at the Toho Gakuen School of Music in Tokyo and has contributed to the development of the marimba through collaborations with manufacturers.
