A blog about Shamisen and Myself, including performances, workshops, compositions for shamisen, random adventures in Japan, and the photographs I take along the way
私の三味線のための作曲、演奏、ワークショップなどについてお知らせ、また日本の生活や写真などもあります。
It finally happened!! After months and months of being stuck inside and teaching courses online, I finally have performances coming up (both online and in person)! Please come join me if you have time!
In light of Covid-19 and most of my live events being canceled from most of the year, I have taken this opportunity to focus my attention on doing performance and lectures on youtube instead of just sitting at home being sad.
I will try my best to make a variety of content about Japanese musical instruments, so I hope everyone tunes in, subscribes, and enjoys the wonderful world of Japanese traditional music!
I haven't updated in a long time. So let's first get to the bad, and then the good about this upcoming month.
Bad: コロナウイルスは大変だ。。。
The COVID-19 virus has put Japan, especially Tokyo, into a panic. Even though the symptoms of COVID-19 is closer to the common cold than anything else, all toilet paper, tissues, and paper towels have disappeared from the store. It feels like the 2011 earthquake/typhoon all over again, except there isn't any reason to be panicking and buying everything from the store early like this. But maybe this is a blessing for the paper industry in Japan.
トイレの髪がなくなりました！2011年の地震の後のような感じとなっていてびっくりしています。
Good: 3月20日に演奏します！！！
Most concerts, events, and big gatherings are canceled for this month. However, I will still be preforming at Wadachi Italian Restaurant on the evening of March 20th! I will be joined by my good friend and also a scholar at Tokyo University of the Arts who will give the audience a chance to experience the differences between Chinese and Japanese traditional music from an insider's point of view! It should be a ton of fun so please join us! Information can be found below. Make reservations by calling the restaurant.
I Love Shamisen! An American Girl Daring to Perform in an All Night Festival
Back in April I was first approached by Nippon TV to possibly appear in a news program about my research and activities surrounding shamisen. After meeting the director, who was both very kind and very interested in all of the crazy things I would be up to during the year, it was decided to make my research on Hanawa-bayashi, up in Akita Prefecture, the main subject of this 10 min piece. Since Hanawa-bayashi isn't until August, it took months before shooting actually started, but all in all, the experience was very good. I learned a lot of new tricks in how to better explain my passion for shamisen to a wider audience, as well as got to feel what it was like to be followed by cameras for over 12 hours during the performance (yes, the director stayed with our float the entire night). I am really happy with the product he came up with and I hope this leads to more projects in a the future, as well as more people gaining a new interest in shamisen!
The conclusion of this project was a new composition for shamisen and shakuhachi based off of Hanawa-bayashi and Native American music. Please look forward to hearing this piece!
The summer is slowly coming to an end but that doesn't mean the fun is about to stop.
There is a number of concerts coming up this month if you need some inspiration for fun.
September 13th, 18:00 ~ Moon Viewing Concert 10月13日の18時から〜「月見の会」
Enjoy looking at the moon from a temple at night while listening to traditional shamisen music that reflect stories told about the moon
I got contacted by テレビ東京 and somehow they got me to go on camera again. If you have time, please watch my program on February 8th, from 15:40-16:45 (I don't know if I will be on the entire time, but I will show up somewhere)
