Flower Dance - Japanese Folk Melodies
菊水湖風
Nonesuch - H-72020
トラック番号 | タイトル | 漢字 | 長さ | アーティスト | |
1 | Hanami Odori | 花見踊 | 07'05 | ||
The title is the short form of Genroku hanami odori, which consists of music for flower dances in the Genroku period-the latter part of the 17th century. It was put into musical form by Shojiro Kineya in 1878 and is played today by many schools of musicians on various kinds of instruments. The flower dance is performed in spring under the cherry blossoms, and the brilliant music of Hanami odori may accompany the flower dances, although it was composed by the master of shamisen for Nagauta performances. | |||||
2 | Komoriuta (Rando) | 子守唄 | 02'27 |
尺八: 菊水湖風 | |
This short lullaby by the shakuhachi is the most popular of all Japanese lullabies. | |||||
3 | Hietsuki Bushi | 稗搗節 | 03'03 | ||
The sad melody of Hietsuki bushi stems from a folk song of Kumamoto in Kyushu. It is based upon the story of the Heike family, whose members hid themselves in the mountains after they were defeated in the Genji and Heike War. Poverty forced them to eat wild corn instead of rice. Heitsuki means "to thresh the corn with a wooden mallet"-the sound of which is simulated in the tsuzumi {small drum} accompaniment. | |||||
4 | Kiso Bushi | 木曽節 | 05'03 | ||
The folk song in Kiso, in the central part of Japan. It is about Ontake mountain, which the travelers had to climb to reach other parts of the country. After a better road was built to link the eastern with the western region of Japan, Kiso bushi was adopted into Bon-dance music to accompany the July Bon festivals. | |||||
5 | Itsuki no Komoriuta | 五木の子守唄 | 06'17 | ||
This sad lullaby reflects nostalgic thoughts of young girls employed as baby-sitters. Itsuki is a small town in Kumamoto, Kyushu, where many prisoners from Korea were held after the war during the last half of the 16th century. The words say "I'm a beggar. You are rich, with obi and rich kimono. Who will weep if I'm beaten to death but the cicadas on the pines. No, not the cicadas, but my young sister who would cry for me." | |||||
6 | O Edo Nihon Bashi | お江戸日本橋 | 05'19 | ||
A cheerful melody of Oedo nihonbashi-the bridge built in Nihonbashi Edo (the old name of Tokyo}-is one of the children's songs, widely known along with Sakura Sakura. The music praises the beauty and the grandeur of the wooden bridge. | |||||
7 | Kōjō no Tsuki | 荒城の月 | 06'33 | ||
The music, which opens with koto, is the Kojo no tsuki composed by Rentaro Taki in 1901. The title signifies the moon viewed from a desolate castle. It is one of the oldest Japanese songs written on the Western scale. Bansui Doi wrote a poem to this music at the Aoba castle in Sendai. | |||||
8 | Sado Okesa | 佐渡おけさ | 05'47 | ||
This piece stems from a folk song of Niigata. Its melody was probably brought from Kyushi, the southernmost island; many similar melodies were set to different words and are familiar to today's listeners. Sado kesa describes the small island of Sado where criminals were transported. | |||||
9 | Kuroda Bushi | 黒田節 | 07'00 | ||
The famous melody of Kuroda bushi derives from a drinking song of the Kuroda family in Fukuoka, Kyushu. The melody was taken from court music known as Etenraku, originally sung to hand clapping by warriors at such occasions as drinking parties. Today the music is performed on the shamisen and other Japanese instruments as accompaniment to sword dances which was probably done in earlier days as well. | |||||
10 | Magouta | 馬子唄 | 02'14 | ||
This is a traveler's folk song. The mago, horse keepers at a junction between one hill and the next, used to entertain their passengers by singing mago uta to the accompaniment of the horse bells. |