2014 Memphis Japanese Festival - Shamisen Performance Video

I have the video from my performance at the 2014 Memphis Japanese Festival (link here). Sadly, there's a train that comes through in the middle, so those parts are harder to hear. Anyway, I hope you enjoy my performance! m(_ _)m

Upcoming Performance

In just a couple of weeks, I will have my next shamisen performance at the Japanese festival at the Memphis Botanic Garden. The festival will be from 10am-5pm on September 13th (more info here). I'm not sure what time they have placed me on the schedule just yet. I'll be performing two pieces: "Yachiyo Jishi" and "Nihonmin'yo Shu". I'd like to explain a little about each piece.

The title "Yachiyo Jishi" (八千代獅子) translates to "Eight Thousand Year Lion". It is a piece that is celebratory in nature. The first part of the song is slower and more peaceful, but as the song progress to the instrumental part (tegoto), it becomes more lively and represents a lion in a vibrant, joyful dance. The song then ends with a quiet image of snow on pine needles, representing long life. The lyrics to the song are as follows (from komuso.com):

English translation:	Japanese (romaji):
Forever In this eternal reign, Like two bamboo shoots Grown straight and true, This world shall last Thousands of ages. (instrumental interlude) On the young needles of the pine, Snow. On the young needles of the pine, Snow.	Itsumade mo kawaranu miyo no aitake no yoyo wa ikuchiyo yachiyo furu (tegoto) Yuki zo kakareru matsu no futaba ni yuki zo kakareru matsu no futabe ni

"Nihonmin'yo Shu" (日本民謡集) is a modern instrumental piece of six folk songs from various regions of Japan. The song is quite energetic and perfect for the festival atmosphere. I hope to be able to get a video of this performance to post here. Please check back!

Kanji Glossary Added

I added a new page to the site: Kanji Glossary. I have found that most English-speaking players (myself included) don't know kanji well, and when doing things like trying to look for items online, the search often comes up limited or empty. I hope that having these kanji available in one list will prove helpful. The terms listed are both general shamisen terminology and also terms that are important to jiuta. I will be updating the list periodically.

Finding an Instructor Page Updated

The finding an instructor page has been updated. I added some recommendations as well as some links to lists of instructors.

Strings and Beginning to Play Pages Updated

Content has been added to the strings page and the beginning to play page. There will be more content added later, so please keep checking back for updates!

Instruments Page Updated

The instruments page has been updated. This is a list and short description of the shamisen I currently own. If you would like more information about my specific instruments, please comment.

Completed Pieces Page Updated

The completed pieces page has been updated. This is a list of the pieces that I have done over the course of my journey. I will be adding to this list as I learn new pieces.

First Post and Welcome

おいでやす!

This blog has been a project idea in my head for some time now. I began my shamisen journey about three years ago - with not a clue in my head where to start other than Google. The search was nearly fruitless for English-based resources and instructors in my area were non-existent. Fortunately - with persistence - I was able to locate an instructor who does lessons via Skype. 

While there are some websites with information about shamisen, there are little to no resources available in English on jiuta style shamisen specifically. The goal of this blog is to track my playing journey and to provide an English language resource for others.