japanese music

• Japanese Theater -The traditional form of popular theater began at the end of the 16th century and soon became the most successful theater entertainment in the red-light districts of the great cities.
• Ipponchōshi or the continuous pattern – used in speeches building up to an explosive climax in the aragoto(oversize, supernatural, rough hero) style, and it requires an extraordinary breath control that only few experts succeed in achieving
• Nori technique – adapted from the chanting of jōruri, and it implies a very sensitive capacity of riding the rhythms of the shamisen (string instrument), declaiming each accompaniment.
• Yakuharai technique - it is the subtle delivery of poetical text written in the Japanese metrical form of alternating seven and five syllables.
• 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)
• nō (chant derives from shōmyō, the sophisticated and rich tradition of Buddhist chanting)
• The most popular shamisen music was called nagauta (long song)
• Nagauta music is very flexible,
• Kabuki is a Japanese traditional theatre art that is performed in a stylized manner which combines acting, singing and dancing
• ka means song
• bu means dance
• ki means skill
• Kabuki was founded in 1603 by Okuni, a Shinto priestess.
• the word kabuki is believed to derive from the verb kabuku, meaning "to lean" or "to be out of the ordinary"
• The expression kabukimono referred originally to those who were bizarrely dressed and paraded on a street.
• Hanamichi – a flower path, a walkway which extends into the audience and via which dramatic entrances and exits are made; Okuni also perform on a hanamichi stage with her entourage.
• Kogakudo -kabuki theaters that have stages both in front of the audience and along the sides help create a bond between the actors and viewers
• Mawaro butal -the interior of the theater contains a revolving stage
• Suppon -a platform that rises from below the stage
• Hanamicho – a walkway that cuts through the audience seating area to connect the stage with the back of the theater
• Magicians and supernatural beings often make their entrances from trap doors in the hanamichi Some stages have 17 trapdoors.
• jidai-mono- historical, or pre-Sengoku period stories
• sewa-mono- domestic, or post-Sengoku stories
• shosagoto - dance pieces'
• Mie - in which the actor holds a picturesque pose to establish his character and his house name yagō, is sometimes heard in a loud shout (kakegoe)
• Onna-gata - female roles
• Aragoto - male roles.
• Rice powder is used to create the white oshiroi base for the characteristic stage make-up
• kumadori enhances or exaggerates facial lines to produce dramatic animal or supernatural character
• RED LINES are used to indicate passion, heroism, righteousness, and other positive traits;
• PINK for youthful joy
• LIGHT BLUE, for an even temper
• PALE GREEN, for peacefulness
• BLUE OR BLACK, for villainy, jealousy, and other negative traits
• GREEN, for the supernatural
• PURPLE, for nobility
• jo, an auspicious and slow opening which introduces the audience to the characters and the plot
• ha, speeding events up, culminating almost always in a great moment of drama or