Japan: Traditional Vocal and Instrumental Music

Soloists of the Ensemble Nipponia - Japan: Traditional Vocal and Instrumental Music

Performers:

Keiko Nosaka - koto

Sachiko Miyamoto - koto

Ayako Handa - biwa, voice

Kohachiro Miyata - shakuhachi

Hirokazu Sugiura - shamisen

Minoru Miki - bells

From the liner notes:

The different genres of Japanese music - art, folk, religious (for the various Buddhist sects), dramatic (for the many different forms of theater), and narrative chanting - all show a great diversity in instruments and their uses, in vocal techniques, formal construction, rhythmic patterns and activity, mood, style, and undoubtedly in the impressions made upon the listener. Yet all of them have elements in common. For example, the techniques by which the music for different instruments or voices is related are much the same throughout the different genres.

In ensemble pieces, the basic melodic idea tends to be carried forth by all the various performers, sometimes simultaneously, and other times with one voice or instrument slightly ahead, creating an imitative or canonic effect. Ornamentation of the basic melodic line varies from part to part, and occasional brief stretches of independent melodic writing in two parts create further diversity of musical texture. Nearly all Japanese music is created within one of two closely related scales: A B C E F A or E F A B C E. The fact that the same set of tones is employed in both scales has prompted some writers to compare them to the Western relative major and minor, but they are actually more analogous to minor and to the old Phrygian mode.

Historically, the almost total absence of a written tradition in many genres has resulted in the loss of much music composed before the 17th century, a process that was accelerated by the widespread disregard for traditional music in the early years of Japan's self-imposed Westernization. Since the end of World War II the government and concerned musicians have made concerted efforts to preserve and revive traditional music.

Four of the most important of Japan's traditional instruments are represented in this recording. The koto is a large zither, about six feet in length. It has 13 strings, each supported by a movable bridge, facilitating rapid changes of tuning. It is played primarily with plectra worn on the first three fingers of the right hand, with the left hand used to produce vibrato and also a wide range of effects involving stopped strings.

The shamisen is a three-stringed instrument whose nearest Western analog is the banjo. It is played with a large ivory plectrum held in the right hand. In addition to the many sounds deriving entirely from the strings, some pieces require the player (in loud passages) to allow the plectrum, after plucking one or more strings, to strike the catskin which covers the body cavity of the instrument, thereby producing a percussive effect.

The shakuhachi is a bamboo vertical flute, played with the lower lip partly inside the open top of the instrument. Although it has only five holes and no keys, it is capable (with the help of half- and quarter-coverings) of sounding a complete chromatic scale as well as an endless range of slides, tone colors, and special effects.

The biwa is a Japanese lute, with four or five strings mounted above a fingerboard with large frets. It is played with a large wooden plectrum, which in agitated parts of the music may strike the wooden body as well as the strings, much as in shamisen technique. The body is sometimes decorated in a beautiful manner, although this has no bearing on the instrument's sound.

Tracklisting:

Side One

1. Kumoi Jishi {5:41}

2. Ozatsuma {2:44}

3. Ogi no Mato ("The Folding Fan as a Target") {10:35}

4. Edo Lullaby {3:37}

Side Two

1. Godanginuta {11:48}

2. Esashi Oiwake ("Esashi Pack-horseman's Song") {2:32}

3. Mushi no Aikata ("Insect Interlude") {2:23}

4. Azuma Jishi ("Azuma Lion Dance") {4:32}

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