Japan | Jiuta | Kikuō Yūji and Kikuoda Yukari | Kurokami

Kurokami 黒髪 (Black hair). Music and songs (jiuta) from Ōsaka according to the tradition of the Yamamura school. Kikuō Yūji (voice and shamisen) Kikuoda Yukari (kokyū) This video presents a well-known piece of the jiuta repertoire, a genre in which the voice is accompanied mostly by the three-stringed plucked lute shamisen. The term jiuta derives from ‘ji’, earth, and ‘uta’ song, in which the term earth takes the meaning of ‘regional’ repertoires. Jiuta is an elegant music style that originated in the Kamigata region in the Edo period as a refinement of previous regional music, in which the vocal part is prominent. It is performed as chamber music, but also to accompany the dance. The shamisen (whose name means ‘three strings’) derives from a Chinese bowed instrument, sanxian, probably arrived to Japan in the XVI century, and is played with a thick plectrum (bachi). It is the main instrument for the kabuki theatre performance and for the bunraku puppet theatre, but it is also prominent in this genre of lyric and refined chamber music. Also, the kokyū has three strings and a shape that resembles that of shamisen. It used to accompany often the shamisen in sankyoku, chamber music, even though has been replaced later on by the flute shakuhachi. It produces a very peculiar and delicate sound due also to the low tension of the bow strings. This event was organized by Dipartimento di Studi sull’Asia e sull’Africa Mediterranea of University of Venice “Ca’ Foscari”, and coordinated by prof. Bonaventura Ruperti, in cooperation with Intercultural Institute for Comparative Music Studies of Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Museum of Oriental Art, Venice and of Teatro Stabile del Veneto, with the patronage of the Municipality of Ōsaka. Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venezia, 30 October 2017 More info on this event: ttp:// Video: Giuseppe Drago Italian translation of the songtext: prof. Bonaventura Ruperti