2. Vocabulary
Gagaku
> Ancient court music from China and Korea. It is the oldest
type of Japanese, traditional music.
Biwagaku
> Music played with the Biwa, a kind of guitar with four
strings.
Nohgaku
>Music played during Noh performances. It basically
consists of a chorus, the Hayashi flute, the Tsuzumi
drum, and other instruments.
3.
Sokyoku
> Music played with the Koto, a type of zither with 13
strings. Later also accompanied by Shamisen
andShakuhachi.
Shakuhachi
> Music played with the Shakuhachi, a bamboo flute
that is about 55 cm long. The name of the flute is its
length expressed in shaku an old Japanese unit of
length.
4.
Shamisenongaku
> Music played with the Shamisen, a kind of guitar
with only three strings. Kabuki and Bunraku
performances are accompanied by the shamisen.
Minyo
> The term for regional music, or folk songs is min'yo.
8. FYI
Kabuki was started by Izumo no Okuni's all-female
troupe around 1603. These women were prostitutes as
well as performers, available for hire after the show,
which has always been common (and still is in many
nightclubs, apparently).
9. FYI
It took in folk dance styles (performed sexily), and
elements from Noh and Bunraku. There was trouble
and violence with the admirers of different troupes
fighting, and the government therefore decreed kabuki
could be performed by boys only from about 1629.
10. FYI
Sadly, there was the same sexual element as with
women, and in 1652 it became men only, which it
stayed until the late 19th Century, and many troupes
are still entirely male. This led to the onnagata, female
impersonators. Many lived as women full time (is this
the first method acting?), and became fashion leaders.
Homosexual liaisons were common.
11. Kayokyoku
After the war the general term for popular songs that
came into usage was kayokyoku. In general,
kayokyoku is the music somewhere between western
pop and enka, which features strong Japanese and
Asian characteristics.
12. ENKA
The term 'enka' came into use from the early 1970s. It
was a slow type of kayokyoku, heavily influenced by
Japanese elements. Enka is sometimes called 'the Heart
of Japan'
It's sentimental lyrics concentrate on themes such as the
separation of lovers, memories, despair and hope.
Singers still usually wear kimono, it's most
characteristic vocal style being the warbling crescendo
at the end of sentences.
13. CHINDON
-1910
Hired for commercials
'civilized' music
Used to demonstrate their 'westernization' used military
bands at ceremonies to open railroads and banks.
Accompanying the chindon are western instruments, a big
'goros' drum (from the French 'gros') plus clarinet and
saxophone, played usually by men, that gradually replaced
the Japanese shamisen (lute) as the main instrument.
14. Japanese Pop music
Inspired by The Beatles in the 1960's. It uses a
pronunciation that sounds more similar to
English than other styles of Japanese music.
This is different from another type of popular
Japanese music called kayōkyoku. Today, the
term "J-pop" covers many popular genres of
Japanese music.
15.
Rock music remained a relatively
underground music genre in the early
1970s in Japan.
In the 1990s, the term J-pop came to refer
to all Japanese popular songs except
enka.
16.
Chaku-uta-
In December 2002, the digital-download
market for ringtone songs ( 着うた
chaku-uta) was created by mobile-phone
company.
17.
Japanese rock has been called "J-rock"
and their most popular bands right now
are "X Japan" and "Gazzette".
Japanese hip hop and urban pop - first
decade of the 21st century
