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The Shamisen

The Shamisen PDF Author: Henry Mabley Johnson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Musical instruments
Languages : en
Pages : 170

Book Description
The shamisen is a traditional Japanese musical instrument. It was introduced to Japan in the mid-sixteenth century via China and the Ryûkyû Islands, and was quickly established as a culturally significant musical instrument in its new context. The instrument - a three-string lute - developed numerous styles of performance and is found as a solo and ensemble instrument in diverse social and cultural contexts. The shamisen is known as an instrument of geisha in the entertainment districts; it is used in kabuki and bunraku theatre; and also has an established place within a wide-range of performance traditions, many of which are depicted in woodblock prints and other art depicting everyday life of the Edo period. This book, which is based on the author's field research in Japan, is a history of the shamisen. It locates the instrument within its various social and cultural contexts, and includes accompanying illustrations (e.g., woodblock prints, photographs and illustrations) to help show visually the place of the instrument in traditional and modern Japan.

The Shamisen

The Shamisen PDF Author: Henry Mabley Johnson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Musical instruments
Languages : en
Pages : 170

Book Description
The shamisen is a traditional Japanese musical instrument. It was introduced to Japan in the mid-sixteenth century via China and the Ryûkyû Islands, and was quickly established as a culturally significant musical instrument in its new context. The instrument - a three-string lute - developed numerous styles of performance and is found as a solo and ensemble instrument in diverse social and cultural contexts. The shamisen is known as an instrument of geisha in the entertainment districts; it is used in kabuki and bunraku theatre; and also has an established place within a wide-range of performance traditions, many of which are depicted in woodblock prints and other art depicting everyday life of the Edo period. This book, which is based on the author's field research in Japan, is a history of the shamisen. It locates the instrument within its various social and cultural contexts, and includes accompanying illustrations (e.g., woodblock prints, photographs and illustrations) to help show visually the place of the instrument in traditional and modern Japan.

Snakeskin Shamisen

Snakeskin Shamisen PDF Author: Naomi Hirahara
Publisher: Delta
ISBN: 0440335892
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 274

Book Description
From Summer of the Big Bachi to Gasa-Gasa Girl, Naomi Hirahara’s acclaimed novels have featured one of mystery fiction’s most unique heroes: Mas Arai, a curmudgeonly L.A. gardener, Hiroshima survivor, and inveterate gambler. Few things get Mas more excited than gambling, so when he hears about a $500,000 win–from a novelty slot machine!–he’s torn between admiration and derision. But the stakes are quickly raised when the winner, a friend of Mas’s pal G. I. Hasuike, is found stabbed to death just days later. The last thing Mas wants to do is stick his nose in someone else’s business, but at G.I.’s prodding he reluctantly agrees to follow the trail of a battered snakeskin shamisen (a traditional Okinawan musical instrument) left at the scene of the crime…and suddenly finds himself caught up in a dark mystery that reaches from the islands of Okinawa to the streets of L.A.–a world of heartbreaking memories, deception, and murder.

Japanese Music & Musical Instruments

Japanese Music & Musical Instruments PDF Author: William P. Malm
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
ISBN: 1462912354
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 300

Book Description
This interesting and authoritative book includes essential facts about the various forms of Japanese music and musical instruments and their place in the overall history of Japan. Japanese Music and Musical Instruments has three main orientations: The history of Japanese music Construction of the instruments Analysis of the music itself. The book covers in a lucidly written text and a wealth of fascinating photographs and drawings the main forms of musical expression. Many readers will find the useful hints on purchasing instruments, records, and books especially valuable, and for those who wish to pursue the matter further there is a selected bibliography and a guide to Tokyo's somewhat hidden world of Japanese music. It will be found an invaluable aid to the understanding and appreciation of an important, but little-known, and fascinating aspect of Japanese culture.

Jiuta Sōkyoku Lyrics and Explanations

Jiuta Sōkyoku Lyrics and Explanations PDF Author: Christopher Yohmei Blasdel
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1040023061
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 410

Book Description
Jiuta Sōkyoku Lyrics and Explanations is a compendium of seventy-three representative songs from the well-known genre of traditional Japanese Edo-period sankyoku ensemble music. Including extensive annotations along with commentaries and notes on their musical and performative aspects, the collection begins with an overview which traces the history of the jiuta sōkyoku genre and the various socio-political influences at work in its formation. The translations and analyses are followed by a substantive glossary and bibliography, allowing for a deeper understanding of both the literary and musical aspects of jiuta sōkyoku compositions. Jiuta Sōkyoku Lyrics and Explanations is a comprehensive anthology that will be of great interest to researchers, including ethnomusicologists, Japanese studies scholars and poetry lovers who are fascinated with the literary and musical impact of the Edo period.

Japan's Musical Tradition

Japan's Musical Tradition PDF Author: Miyuki Yoshikami
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476675597
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 252

Book Description
What makes Japanese music sound Japanese? Each genre of Japan's pre-Western music (hogaku) morphed from the preceding one with singing at its foundation. In ancient Shinto prayers, words of power recited in a prescribed cadence communicated veneration and community needs to the divine spirit (kami). From the prayers, Japan's word-based music evolved into increasingly more sophisticated recitations with biwa, shamisen, and koto accompaniment. This examination reveals shortcomings in the typical interpretation of Japanese music from a pitch-based Western perspective and carefully explores how the quintessential musical elements of singing, instrumental accompaniment, scale, and format were transmitted from their Shinto inception through all of Japan's music. Japan's culture, with its unique iemoto system and teaching methods, served to exactly replicate Japan's music for centuries. Considering Japan's music in the context of its own culture, logic, and sources is essential to gaining a clear understanding and appreciation of Japan's music and dissipating the mystery of the music's "Japaneseness." Greater enjoyment of the music inevitably follows.

Japanese Singers of Tales: Ten Centuries of Performed Narrative

Japanese Singers of Tales: Ten Centuries of Performed Narrative PDF Author: Dr Alison McQueen Tokita
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
ISBN: 075465379X
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 311

Book Description
Alison Tokita presents a series of case studies that demonstrate the persistence of Japanese sung narratives in a multiplicity of genres over ten centuries together with factors contributing to change in narrative performance. Narratives that were continually re-told and recycled in different versions and formats over a long period of time served to build people's sense of a common identity over space (the geographical extent of 'Japan') and time (the enduring power of many specific narratives). The elements of variation and change relate to the move away from oral narrative to text-based performance, and from a simple narrative situation with one performer to complex theatrical narratives with dancers, singers and other musicians. Tokita includes substantial musical analysis and exploration of theoretical issues, as well as documentation of important performance traditions, all of which are extant.

Shaped by Japanese Music

Shaped by Japanese Music PDF Author: Jay Davis Keister
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135879982
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 296

Book Description
Shaped by Japanese Music is an in-depth analysis of the musical world of an individual performer, composer, and teacher. Using an ethnographic approach, this study situates musical analysis in the context of its creation, demonstrating that traditional Japanese music is hardly an archaic song form frozen in the present, but an active sociocultural system that has been reproduced in Japan from the seventeenth century to the present day. The dynamics of this cultural system unfold in the musical experiences of Kikuoka Hiroaki, the leader of a school of nagauta music, who struggled to modernize the art form while trying to maintain the qualities he believed to be fundamental to the tradition. Through the focus on Kikuoka's school, readers will become familiar with conflicts in the recent history of this music, traditional Japanese teaching methods, and the technique of modern composition within a traditional form. Underlying all of these different analyses is the concept of kata (form), a Japanese aesthetic that helps shape musical forms as well as the behaviour of musicians.

Excursions in World Music, Seventh Edition

Excursions in World Music, Seventh Edition PDF Author: Bruno Nettl
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1317213750
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 541

Book Description
Excursions in World Music is a comprehensive introductory textbook to world music, creating a panoramic experience for students by engaging the many cultures around the globe and highlighting the sheer diversity to be experienced in the world of music. At the same time, the text illustrates the often profound ways through which a deeper exploration of these many different communities can reveal overlaps, shared horizons, and common concerns in spite of and, because of, this very diversity. The new seventh edition introduces five brand new chapters, including chapters by three new contributors on the Middle East, South Asia, and Korea, as well as a new chapter on Latin America along with a new introduction written by Timothy Rommen. General updates have been made to other chapters, replacing visuals and updating charts/statistics. Excursions in World Music remains a favorite among ethnomusicologists who want students to explore the in-depth knowledge and scholarship that animates regional studies of world music. A companion website is available at no additional charge. For instructors, there is a new test bank and instructor's manual. Numerous student resources are posted, including streamed audio tracks for most of the listening guides, interactive quizzes, flashcards, and an interactive map with pinpoints of interest and activities. An ancillary package of a 3-CD set of audio tracks is available for separate purchase. PURCHASING OPTIONS Paperback: 9781138101463 Hardback: 9781138688568 eBook and mp3 file: 9781315619378* Print Paperback Pack - Book and CD set: 9781138666443 Print Hardback Pack - Book and CD set: 9781138666436 Audio CD: 9781138688032 *See VitalSource for various eBook options (mp3 audio compilation not available for separate sale)

Traditional Japanese Arts and Culture

Traditional Japanese Arts and Culture PDF Author: Stephen Addiss
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 0824874463
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 274

Book Description
"This admirable and necessary volume allows the original writers to speak to us directly. Though all this is carefully documented, we are at the same time spared any layers of scholarly interpretation. Rather, the richness of the original reaches us complete." —Donald Richie, Japan Times, May 14, 2006 Japanese artists, musicians, actors, and authors have written much over the centuries about the creation, meaning, and appreciation of various arts. Most of these works, however, are scattered among countless hard-to-find sources or make only a fleeting appearance in books devoted to other subjects. Compiled in this volume is a wealth of original material on Japanese arts and culture from the prehistoric era to the Meiji Restoration (1867). These carefully selected sources, including many translated here for the first time, are placed in their historical context and outfitted with brief commentaries, allowing the reader to make connections to larger concepts and values found in Japanese culture. The book is a treasure trove of material on the visual and literary arts, but it contains as well primary texts on topics not easily classified in Western categories, such as the martial and culinary arts, the art of tea, and flower arranging. More than 60 color and black and white illustrations enrich the collection and provide further insights into Japanese artistic and cultural values.

Composing for Japanese Instruments

Composing for Japanese Instruments PDF Author: Minoru Miki
Publisher: University Rochester Press
ISBN: 9781580462730
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 290

Book Description
The unique sounds of the biwa, shamisen, and other traditional instruments from Japan are heard more and more often in works for the concert hall and opera house. Composing for Japanese Instruments is a practical orchestration/instrumentation manual with contextual and relevant historical information for composers who wish to learn how to compose for traditional Japanese instruments. Widely regarded as the authoritative text on the subject in Japan and China, it contains hundreds of musical examples, diagrams, photographs, and fingering charts, and comes complete with two accompanying compact discs of musical examples. Its author, Minoru Miki, is a composer of international renown and is recognized in Japan as a pioneer in writing for Japanese traditional instruments. The book contains valuable appendices, one of works Miki himself has composed using Japanese traditional instruments, and one of works by other composers -- including Toru Takemitsu and Henry Cowell -- using Japanese traditional instruments. Marty Regan is Assistant Professor of Music at Texas A&M University; Philip Flavin is a Research Fellow in the School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics at Monash University, Australia.