Chapter 8 Traditional Folk Music in Contemporary Japan: Case Studies of Standardization and Diversification in Tsugaru Shamisen and Folk Song

In: Handbook of Japanese Music in the Modern Era
Authors:
Gakuto Chiba
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Patrick E. Savage
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Abstract

Japanese folk music, such as min’yō (folk songs) and Tsugaru shamisen (three-string lute), continues to be transmitted and performed despite a clear decline in popularity after the introduction of Western classical and popular music. In this chapter, we describe details of our own experiences performing the traditional folk music of modern Japan in the form of two autoethnographic case studies. First, Chiba describes his experiences of taking Tsugaru shamisen and min’yō lessons (keiko) from an early age and winning several national Tsugaru shamisen competitions. Then Savage describes his experiences of learning to perform and even winning trophies in min’yō competitions as an adult speaking Japanese as a second language. These case studies demonstrate how abstract phenomena like “melodic evolution” and “audiovisual interactions” are meaningful to us and other performers as we adapt and transmit folk music to future generations. Through this discussion of the evolution and diversification of Japanese folk music, we consider what folk music of the future should be like.

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