Music

• Kabuki


  A form of traditional Japanese drama with highly stylized song, mime, and dance, now performed only by male actors, using exaggerated gestures and body movements to express emotions, and including historical plays, domestic dramas, and dance pieces
• Kabuki


  • Dances and movements are accompanied by shamisen music which collected and popularized a number of aspects from all previous forms of Japanese music, from gagaku (classic court music imported from China during the 18th century), kagura (performed in Shinto Shrines), no (chant derives from shomyo, the sophisticated and rich tradition of Buddhist chanting), down to the folk songs and fashionable songs of the day
  • The most popular shamisen music was called nagauta (long song) which reached golden age in the first half of the 19thcentury as dance music for the henge mono or quick-change pieces
• Ipponchoshi


  The continuous pattern used in speeches building up to an explosive climax in the aragoto (oversize, supernatural, rough hero) style, it requires an extraordinary breath control that only few experts succeed in achieving
• Nori Technique


  Adapted from the chanting of joruri, implies a very sensitive a capacity of riding the rhythms of shamisen (string instrument), declaiming each accompaniment
• Yakuharai technique


  The subtle delivery of poetical text written in the Japanese metrical form of alternating seven and five syllables
• Naugata Music


  Very flexible, can be performed by an entire orchestra of twenty musicians, of which ten are shamisen players, while other play flutes and drums
• Peking Opera


  A form of Traditional Chinese theater which combines music, vocal performance, mime, dance, and acrobatics
• Performances are accompanied by music

  • usually played on three types of instrument wind, string, and percussion
  • The main instruments are Chinese in origin: the jinghu, a two –stringed instrument played with a bow, the yueqin, a four stringed instrument which is also plucked, the suona horn, Chinese flutes, and a variety of gongs and cymbals
  • The melodies are rhythmic and graceful
• Aria


  Divided into those of the Ehruang and Xipi varieties. An example of Aria is wawadiao – sung by a young Sheng to indicate a heightened emotion
• Qupai


  Instrumental tunes that serve a wider range of purposes than arias
• Wayang Kulit


  Refers to kinds of puppets theaters. Sometimes the puppet itself is referred to as wayang. Performance of shadow puppet theaters is accompanied by gamelan orchestra in Java and by gender wayangin Bali
• Gamelan Ensemble


  • Comprised mainly by bronze, percussion instruments, augmented by other percussion instruments, strings and flute
  • Full Javanese Gamelan ensemble consists of saron, gender, bonang, gong and kempul, kenong and ketuk, gabang, rebab, suling, kendang, tjelempung
• Kabuki


  Japanese classical theater art form that can be traced back to the Edo Period, written with three characters meaning song, dance, and skill
• Kabuki


  • Elaborate costumes, exaggerated wigs, distinct make-up, over the top actions, consists of an all-male cast
  • Emphasized movements to convey certain meanings to the audience since many old Japanese words are used in the dialogue
• Peking Opera


  Form of Traditional Chinese theater which combines music, vocal performance, mime, dance and acrobatics
• Peking Opera


  • Music can be divided into the xīpí and èrhuáng styles, includes arias, fixed-tune melodies and percussion patterns
  • Repertoire includes over 1,400 works based on Chinese history, folklore and contemporary life
  • Denounced as "feudalistic" and "bourgeois" during the Cultural Revolution, later reforms to improve performance quality, adapt new elements, shorten works, and perform new and original plays
• Wayang Kulit


  Indonesian form of shadow puppetry, accompanied by gamelan orchestra in Java and by gender wayang in Bali
• Wayang Kulit


  • Puppets made of buffalo hide and intricately designed, dhalang (puppeteer) tells stories of kings, princesses, ogres, and knights using deft hand movement and narration
  • Many plots draw from episodes seen in the Hindu epics Ramayana and Mahabharata
  • Declared a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2003
• The three major classical theaters in Japan are Kabuki, Noh, and Bunraku, all listed as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritages
• Peking opera is the most dominant form of Chinese opera
• Wayang Kulit was declared a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2003