Koto Shamisen

[tehPizzachu]

what gorgeous music :) whenever i hear a koto playing I feel at peace with the world

[ZehSkweegy]

everyone knows what gaijin means, you're not being clever. Gaijin means white pig in case you didn't, fun fact there. also...Ever think that a lot people don't know what the customs of other cultures are before visiting? the insults are unnecessary, just making yourselves out to look like arrogant racists. That being said, I loved the music.

[timtak1]

@ZehSkweegy

Gaijin means outside person or outsider, and I don't see it as being nearly so derogatory as pig, and use it to describe myself.

[stoltobot]

@ZehSkweegy dude, a gaijin can be any colour of pig, a black pic, a yellow pig.

[Tadanga]

The talking Gaijin completely ruined this for me. :(

[Araya2529]

้hi I like Japanse traditional music,I'm Thai musicien.

[thojmoto69]

Stupid GAIJIN!!!

[slazzer145]

I saw the film "never so few " the sound track before the attack on the japanese airfield was koto classic music and it was wonderful...

[Max0Inq]

Too bad Japan means today land of odd comics and werid anime movies. People totally forgot about Japan's history - what is the biggest treasure of this country. I'm fascinated with pre-modern Japanese culture and their forgotten tradions. What worse, Japanese people seems to clone Western culture (clothes, music, architectutre) with no respect for their own heritage.

[WasabiSniffer]

i sympathize with what you're saying, japan is fast becoming the land of anime and manga. a lot of the pride, dignity and heritage has been forgotten. post-war japan lost a lot of its self-respect and sense of identity, and has become even more westernized. while it has its own distinctive flavor, it makes me sad to see old traditions become more and more rare. i guess it took an american upbringing to realize this because my cousins look at me funny whenever we talk about this sort of thing.

[krixis8882]

@WasabiSniffer Actually i am 100% sure that without anime and manga most of the people wouldn't even take any interest in Japanese culture and it would be much more dead than it is now. And they are being "westernized" but in their own unique way.

[BoddhisattaHoja]

It's a shame and a total lack of respect that the gaijin kept talking. If you are in Japan then you should do the same as the japanese. If they stop talking then you should do the same... but no... americans feel they have to impose their own culture even in a foreign country. I would love to have enough money to know Japan... and people like you are in Japan acting as if you were in your country.

[hinduhkush]

I FUCKING LOVE JAPAN

[timtak1]

I have another recording of this band but alas it is in a format that I have not worked out how to upload to Youtube yet.

演奏者へ、特別に演奏してもらいましたが、あのカメラのビデオ形­式が特別でまだどのようにyoutubeに載せるか分かりません­。すみません！

[vinniram]

just goes to show how horribly rude certain gaijin can be. if gaijin don't want to conform to Japanese social expectations, why don't they just fly back to america where they can be as friggin' rude as they like.

[timtak1]

As I said in response to Iggy, this was a dinner after a conference which was meant (as far as many, not only gaijin, were concerned) to be a place to converse and make contacts. The organiser arranged for this great performance, but "many" were not there for, did not want to go and hear a performance. While the performance was great, it was not what was required at the time. If it were me I would have asked that they set up stage further back and that accept that in this instance they be BGM.

[irgy709]

can't believe people were so rude as to talk during the performance...it was lovely!

[timtak1]

Well....If we had been there for a concert then fair enough, it would be rude but to listen, but as far as some where concerned it was the (rather loud) background music for a post conference dinner. The music continued for about 30 or 40 minutes of about 90 minutes of the dinner.

[runtor1988]

One of the coolest things ever!

[EmptyTipJar]

SO beautiful.

I love it.

[keihopa]

such good things to hear...

[burayan248]

This sounds like magic, it started raining when I put this video, its really awesome!

Iloveit!

[Irockman1]

Ah, that was beautiful.

It must be wonderful living in the Japanese culture. Relaxing music, the best food, and intelligent people. ~_~

[timtak1]

:-) They are intelligent or at least thoughtful, the food is healthy and no less appealing (that a miracle in a way), and some of the music is relaxing.

But there are all sorts of disadvantages too from a Western point of view. A lot of Westeners living here gripe a lot of time, and not without reason, in a sense.

And also, a lot of time, Japanese culture is very westernised, or even in a sense a poor imitation, which is sad considering how cool J culture is.

All in all I prefer Japan.

[kimonocat001]

beautiful!

[ilmaialegioviale]

nice! beautiful

[timtak1]

Ha? I am pretty dirty I guess.

[oldgeezerproductions]

Sorry to have started this derailment on what is really a totally irrelevant point. The musical performance shown here was, IMO outstanding and I only wish I could go to such a performance without having to go all the way to Japan.

BTW, about 20 years ago a group of beautiful young women presented a Koto performance of Steven Foster and traditional music at a university near here and I remember it as the most beautiful and memorable musical event of my life.

[timtak1]

I realy need to try and get in touch with them and ask to film one of their performances.

[HauntedRose]

Gaijin does indeed mean "foreigner" at least in more modern times.

Perhaps it did hold meaning as "barbarian" in the older times, but it is nowadays used as a reference to foreigners, or people from another country.

[TuahShinguru]

Japanese folk, along with a vast majority of cultural music around the world, uses the pentonic scale. It's basically the notes 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6. There's another variation which, I think, is 1, 2, 4, 5, and 7, but I can't remember right off.

Bluegrass, Irish, Asian, and all kinds of cultural music uses the pentonic scale.

[timtak1]

thanks very much.

Wikipedia has a good argticle on the "Pentatonic" scale.

[dulcimoo]

Actually Koto can be tuned to almost any scale. You have 13 movable bridges (Ji) and can tune to 1/2 step between, to just about anything more. The limitations are thickness of the Ji and length and tension of the strings. Turning for Sakura would be close to : (L-H) D G A Bb D Eb G A Bb D Eb G A. For western music put "Do" on string 4 and you can play Ioanian, (4-11), Mixolydian(1-7), Dorian(5-12), and Aeolan (2-9) modes. Koto is very flexible in terms of tuning. Tune perfect, not tempered.

[timtak1]

It is not in Western style tune.

I bet that there is some Korean music (perhaps Gayaegum music? Thanks Shamamalegger) which also does not follow the Western scale.

This is not to every'ones taste I must admit.

"there HORRIBLE" >> "It's HORRIBLE" or "Their music is HORRIBLE"

[Jake4595]

OK........................?

[timtak1]

Okay!

[shamamalegger123]

you are just hating on beautiful Japanese music because your Korean Gayaegum cant compete..F*** that Korean shit that is why yall asses got beat by Japan.

The Gayaegum compared to the koto sounds like rubber bands on a cardboard box. The Koto is BEAUTY!!!!!!

[timtak1]

To be honest, I have no idea. I will try and find out but it will not be soon. Perhaps I could even ask them if they would be so kind as to let me video them in high definition.

[SxKawabata]

Its a foregner in general

[ytcomposer]

すみません、Timtak； I love this style of koto-shamisen-shakuhachi ensemble playing, but I'm having a hard time finding it. I usually end up getting lots of beautiful Tsugaru, but what is this ensemble style called? よろしくお願いします。

[Chichiri520]

OMG DONT take it down! This is like music from the heavens.

[timtak1]

:-) well perhaps the fact that they have online fans will encourage them to let it stay, shoud they find it here. They are students.

[Chichiri520]

love it!

[timtak1]

Glad you all like it. I am in breach of copyright (their performance - the music is I believe trad). I am hoping that there is some fair use-ish excuse and believe that it is for the good of humanity but if any of the people featured here want me to take this down then I will immediately.

[munkytron]

do you know where i could perhaps get a score to study something in this style? like any web sites you know. i would like to learn the fundamentals. cheers.

[timtak1]

Sorry I don't know. If I come accross the Yamaguchi Koto band again I will ask them but I think that they are based in one of the campuses that is not the one I am based in. I guess that they are nurses (the medical school).

[munkytron]

dont worry. all is good. thankyou for replying

[timtak1]

I am really sorry but I am afraid I don't know.

[rfieldsfan641]

wow...when i came across this video, i couldn't believe my ears....very good song

especially the beginning part

[xdarkxflowerx]

We Gaijin can be troublesome, indeed. (haha) Very impressive.

[AdemiskofGW]

agreed(haha)

[KenshinForever]

what are gaijin?

[xdarkxflowerx]

To put it bluntly? White people (or is it just foreign people in general?).

[timtak1]

As xdarkflower says. Foreign people in general, but specifically white people.

[NihonNiv]

"gaijin" litteraly means "people from the outside". So it means "foreigner" in general, not only white people. It applies to any person who isn't japanese.

[oldgeezerproductions]

Actually, the word literally means "barbarian", does it not? Are we not all "barbarians" to those of other cultures?

[NihonNiv]

No, "gaijin" does not mean "barbarian". It is written 外人 in japanese, the kanji 外 means "outside" and the kanji 人 means "people" or "person". It's a short version of gaikokujin, 外国人 in japanese (国 means "country" or "kingdom"). So it simply means "person from a foreign country" or "foreigner". "barbarian" is said "yabanjin" (野蛮人) in japanese, it has nothing to do with "gaijin".

[oldgeezerproductions]

I had a Japanese roommate in college and he assured me that the word meant "barbarian" and he was embarrassed when I asked him about it. However, that was almost 45 years ago and perhaps back then ordinary Japanese looked on foreigners with more prejudice and hence the word was then more nearly equivalent to "barbarian" with yabanjin as an even more pejorative and insulting word. Do you think that is possible?

[NihonNiv]

It is true that some japanese used to think of foreigners (especially western foreigners) as barbarians. There're always have been xenophobe people in every country. After all, there are also a lot of people in our countries who use the word "foreigner" almost like an insult. But it doesn't mean the word itself carries any pejorative meaning. It's just a pejorative idea that only some people associat with the word.

[timtak1]

I agree heartily with NihonNiv. The word "gaijin" in itself only means "outsider" but if you are a Zenophobe (as inevitably many people are) then it may have connotations of barbarian.

However, "Gaijin" (Outside/other-person) is also seen as being an abbreviation of "Gaikokujin" (Other-country person) and as

an abbreviation it is seen as being less

respectful and a bit like "Jap."

Personally I am happy to be called a Gaijin and wish that "Jap" were like "Brit," all merely abbreviations.

[NihonNiv]

Thank you timtak1. I'm happy too to be called a gaijin. I completly agree with you, abbreviations are just abbreviations. They shouldn't be seen as a lack of respect.

[timtak1]

Yeah!

I have had people react quite offendedly to "Jap," so these days I do not use it. But, I am happy to call myself a gaijin, and

if I change my nationality to Japanese, as I may well do, a "Jap" and hope that everyone

likes their abbreviations.

[NihonNiv]

Yeah, that would be great !

[NihonNiv]

I've got several japanese friends and my girlfriend is japanese too. They often use "gaijin" and i can assure you that for them, it doesn't mean "barbarian" in any way. It only means "foreigner" and nothing more.