Traditional Japan

This was a week filled with tradition.

It may or may not be fair to equate Hideki Togi with Kenny G, but during Wednesday's concert in the neighbouring town of Naie there was a flair of Mr.G that came through.  Here's a clip of Hideki Togi:

But before you go away thinking initially the same as I did, Togi is definitely not your run of the mill guy you'd see playing at your local mall selling his muzak versions of the Beatles or Engelbert Humperdninck.  Togi basically brought "Gagaku" back to the modern lexicon of Japanese Music and put it back on the map by using the ancient Gagaku instruments in a modern way.  Gagaku is basically the oldest style of Japanese music which was played in the 7th century.  Togi is trained in this tradition and was a musician in the Imperial Palace; the guy definitely has talent, that is for sure - and I would say he showed it off some of it at Wednesday's concert.  However, he mostly ventured into his maudlin versions of western  pop hits with synthesize background music (note: he plays the synthesizer as well and a multitude of other interments).

Here's a clip of Togi again doing his thing.  As well as a clip of what traditional Gagaku sounds like:

 

Togi looking a little more traditional

Traditional Gagaku Ensemble

Also this week we went to the town of Shinkapu where a local traditional theatre group, as well as a professional guest group from Akitaka Hiroshima, put on a variety of Kagura plays.  Kagura theatre is connected to Shintoism and the stories are based on stories about angry gods going ape shit, greedy army generals getting their just desserts, or men being lured by beautiful women who are well not women but actually angry gods - you get the picture mainly stories about lust, power, violence and death.  It was pretty amazing watching the actors and musicians go non-stop for the four plays they presented with each going on in excess of 45-minute - there was a definitely a marathon of talent happening all at once.  There are times when I am in Japan and I think to myself this is why Japan is such a special and cool place and watching the Kagura plays made me feel that way.  Taiga was definitely into it, especially when the snakes and the fox came right up to his face to say hello and frighten him!!  Here's some videos I found of the same stories that were presented at the festival we attended:

"Big Snakes"

A play about a god who was banished from the heavens back to earth who 

eventually helps save a young maiden from a group of overgrown snakes.

"Evil Fox Lady"

An evil fox who presents herself as a beautifully lady lures a unsuspecting monk back to his quarters, where she transforms herself back to her beastly self.

Go 1/3 of the way into the clip to see the "foxy lady!"

Taiga's A Star!

Quickly wanted to post a link to our town's website which has some pics of Taiga performing at his pre-school play:

http://www.town.kamisunagawa.hokkaido.jp/topicpage13_11.html#top

Taiga sang in Japanese, danced, and also acted in a Japanese rendition of Cinderella - way to go Taiga, you're on your way to Hollywood.

Ryuichi Sakamoto - Playing the Piano

Last week we took in another concert in the "big city" of Sapporo; we had the luck to get tickets to see Ryuichi Sakamoto.  Not sure if many outside of Japan will know his name, but he is a bonafide international music star in his own right.  He has worked alongside many international artists, though probably for the casual music listener the one chance you may know him from is a movie he did with David Bowie entitled "Merry Christmas Mr.Lawrence".

Here's the movie trailer if you wanted to jog your memory:

Not only did Sakamoto act alongside Bowie, but he also did the main soundtrack for the film and the title track is probably his most famous piece.  There's an instrumental version and also a version released as a single with lyrics sung by David Sylvian (another famous singer who most people should know, but don't!) entitled Forbidden Colours.

The music video may be dated and the acting in the movie itself a bit stilted, the piece ranks up there as one of my favourites.

The concert itself was good, but I think the first 15 minutes may have caught some listeners by surprised as Sakamoto spent the time banging his piano with mallets and various other things making noises that you usually wouldn't make with a piano.  Although I am open to mostly anything, have to admit it was too "artsy" for my liking; thankfully he spent the remainder of the concert playing more traditional pieces in a traditional way!  Anyways, it was good to see another concert and to see an artist who I have been listening to for some time.

As an aside, Sakamoto is probably one of the more vocal and famous Japanese celebrities who is part of the anti-nuclear movement here.  He has frequently attended rallies and spoke at them.  This month TEPCO, the company who is in charge of the Fukushima nuclear power plant, is scheduled to start removing used nuclear fuel which is located in the used fuel pool at Number 4 - here's hoping it goes off without a hitch.  It has been garnering a lot of international attention, even from famous Japanese-Canadian David Suzuki has rang in:

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/11/04/david-suzuki-fukushima-warning_n_4213061.html

For those who know me, you already know some of my stance on the issue.  I won't go into it right now.  I am surprised that my work peers have yet to mentioned anything about the nuclear issue - I guess life goes on.  Here's hoping it does!!!!