Japan Society Presents A SALUTE TO TRADITION

As the third performance in The Shamisen Sessions, a multi-month celebration of the music and history of the distinctively Japanese instrument, Japan Society presents A Salute to Tradition on November 20th. This single-evening showcase features spectacular examples of three of Japan's major classical shamisen performance styles: nagauta (performed predominantly in connection with kabuki), gidayu-bushi (associated with bunraku puppet theater) and jiuta (the style of music developed for tatamisalon concerts) as executed by the crème de la crème of Japan's preeminent shamisen players and chanters, including a Living National Treasure (the highest national honor designated by the government of Japan for an artist) and a traditional nihon buyo dancer.

The shamisen, originally from China, reached Japan in the 16th century, where it underwent changes in shape, size and sound. The three-stringed shamisen has since become a central element in Japan's performing arts and entertainment sphere, maintaining a pivotal role in kabuki and bunraku theaters, salon recitals and indigenous folk, classical and vaudeville music.

A Salute to Tradition celebrates the shamisen's broad cultural role throughout Japanese history with a full and varied program of live recitation and singing, providing the instrument's unique voice in a meaningful artistic context. Japan Society's Artistic Director Yoko Shioya notes, "Our previous presentations in The Shamisen Sessions series have highlighted the contemporary rock legacy and experimental explorations that shamisen players have embraced for the present and the future. With A Salute to Tradition, we pay due deference to the instrument's venerable and versatile history as the accompaniment of choice for many of Japan's most enduring masterpieces, which remain as popular today as they were centuries ago. Even in their home country, such an assemblage of shamisen styles and master artists in one concert would be rare; to present this array of talent and tradition to an American audience is cause for note and celebration."

Artists featured in this program include: TAKEMOTO Komanosuke (gidayu recitation, Living National Treasure), TSURUZAWA Yumiaka TANAKA Yumiko (gidayu shamisen), TSURUZAWA Tsugahana (gidayushamisen), FUJII Hirokazu (jiuta voice shamisen), KINEYA Mitsuya (nagautavoice), IMAFUJI Chotatsuro (nagauta shamisen), KINEYA Katsujuro (nagautashamisen) and HANAYAGI Genkuro (nihon buyo traditional dancer).

This exalted selection of luminaries will perform musical selections and choreographed movement from some of Japan's most memorable plays and instrumental pieces, including Kanjincho (from the kabuki repertoire), Komochi Yamamba (from the bunraku repertoire), Zangetsu and Tamagawa. More complete information about each of these selections is listed below.

One hour prior to the performance, Dr. K. Natasha Foreman, Lecturer in Musicology and Ethnomusicology at Wayne State University (MI), will lead an informative lecture on the history of the shamisen. This talk will be free and open to A Salute to Tradition ticket holders only. Two workshops held in association with the Salute performance are scheduled for the following day on Friday, November 21: a shamisen workshop with Imafuji Chotatsuro and a nihon buyo dance workshop with Hanayagi Genkuro. Tickets to both workshops are available now.