Friday Fun: Not-so-traditional traditional music

28 May 2010 37 Comments

by madsilence in Japanese Culture, Life, Music, News Tags: Celtic music, fun, Otakon, otaku, shamisen, Yoshida Brothers

Hey guys!  I’m so excited about this new shamisen band find that I had to share it with you!  Shamisen usually brings to mind, well, old ladies who sing through their noses…for example, the traditional singing you can hear in this video I took of traditional dancing at a geisha dinner a few months ago:

This kind of shamisen/singing combo is called nagauta.  Nagauta literally means “long song” and originated from long poems and set pieces from kabuki plays in central and southern Japan (there’s an interesting mini-article with further reading list over at BookRags if you’re interested).  While I’ve come to appreciate nagauta (through long periods of un-avoidable exposure, as it were ^^;;;) what’s really caught my attention is tsugaru-jamisen, a lesser-known style that comes from the extreme north of Japan, played by wandering blind musicians called bo-sama.  Tsugaru-jamisen is much faster and played in triple-time as compared to the slower, more sedate pace of nagauta.  One of the trademarks of tsugaru is the way the bachi, the plectrum, hits the body of the shamisen so strongly and so often, lending a distinct “twangy” sound to the music.  Because the style of the music is so tough on the instrument, shamisen used for tsugaru songs are made of dog skin instead of the more delicate cat skin…   ^^;;

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But let’s avoid the subject of construction materials…. the real reason I’m writing this post is to introduce the Yoshida Brothers!!  I am totally in love (love!!!) with the Yoshida Brothers, who will in fact be touring the US this year, and stopping at Otakon, my favorite east coast convention in July!  Sadly, I am no longer on the east coast… oh the irony!  Come back to Japan soon boys!!  ::cough cough::  Anyway, strangely enough I was introduced to them through my students’ second year English textbook, which features a conversation about shamisen in a city called Hirosaki.  One of the characters says they are a fan of the Yoshida Brothers.  I never realized they were real until my partner-teacher brought one of their DVDs to show the kids in class one day.  This is the track that hooked me, it’s called “Rising”:

This is a really impressive track, but really it’s one of their least creative.  They manage to mix shamisen with so many styles of music, including new-age:

Spaghetti Western:

Salsa??

And of course their more traditional pieces are just as stunning:

Anyway, hoping y’all give shamisen a go and enjoy it as much as I have!  Have you been listening to any new groups recently?  I’d love to hear what you’ve found!  My music collection needs expanding!

~MS the Younger

PS:  Found this amazing video while searching for videos for y’all, it links my two obsessions, shamisen and Celtic  music!  Monsters of Shamisen… strange, but very compelling…

PPS:  I’m headed down to Echizen, the center of traditional paper making in Japan, this weekend.   Look for fun updates about washi making!

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