Gagaku

[Chichiri520]

Wonderful music and video! Your description was funny! If you didnt like it, you didnt like it..thats okay. At least it made you feel something and that is the point in the arts. Though I dont understand what you mean by making emperors bloodthirsty, I find this quite relaxing.

Back in the good old days, this music was THE thing to listen to.

Apparently, this form of music preserves elements of Chinese influence that no longer exist in China. A similar form of "Gagaku" exists in Korea as well.

[shamanorak]

oh yes! i've heard more pleasant sounds from cats in a blender!! lol

[Trent1Liven]

I love this! It is very beutifull!

[Momotaro88]

Mh...I dunno why they keep on performing Ranryoo in Gion Corner

its not the easiest Gagaku piece to listen to if you're not used to it

prolly wanted to play some Bugaku just to show "action" on stage.

They should play stuff like Seigaiha or Konju to first-time-listeners and not try to scare them off with "advanced" stuff...

if performed in the right context...say...under flowering cherries or on the open-air-stage of some temple with bonfires at night, the music suddenly "fits"

[KingStar1984]

Ministry of Silly Walks hahahaha

[JudderMan25]

Love it.

[Miyagi900]

I'm so sorry Hstk78!

I wrote to Mommom812.

[Miyagi900]

What a typical Korean thinking...

It's absolutely disgusting that is korean discrimination to tip of Asia.

Hstk78 has no shame.

[Obbyto]

HAHAHA This isn't authentic Gagaku at least not the "orthodox gagaku" that were played on the asian continent. Clearly the one played was an imitation and was very "Japanalized" with their own intstruments. Sounds so broken xD

[kohenji]

nice Music!

[mommom812]

Gagaku is not music of Japan.

It is in Korea that invented Gagaku.

The Japanese can only imitate it indiscriminately.

[Hstk78]

inventing this music is not Kimchee but China.

Dont tell a lie, Kimcheese.

OK?

[Hstk78]

inventing this music is not Kimchee but China.

Dont tell a lie, Kimcheese.

OK?

[wolfgirl1239]

wtf do you mean? Kimchee is a food not a country. You mean Korea. Please say it right.

[lessdone]

What is it called in Korean and is it still performed there? I had thought this may have originated in China and found its way to Japan after a time.

[Chichiri520]

My what lies. The origins of Gagaku are traced back to China. Look at the instruments that are used such as the Sho, it comes from the Chinese sheng. It then spread to Korea, then Japan. So if we are talking about "imitation", Korea is just as guilty.

[bikercowboy1]

If you realy listen to folk/traditional music and you say its awkward then you don`t understand music! cause if you listen to the different kind of different folk-music of the history you find that each has influenct each other, up till now. so be open and listen and feel and hear the beauty in it.

[MattressGallery]

Sounds a lot like traditional Korean court music (a-ak). The two musical traditions use very different instruments, but the names are derived from the same Chinese characters.

[LadyButterfly83x]

I just studied gagaku in world music. It fascinates me how gagaku is the oldest music ensemble in the world. Gagaku wasn't seen publicly until after World War 2. I am beginning to like Japanese musical traditions.

[pranhu]

HMMm .. it s required some taste... be open-minded , you guys.

[engteeth]

well gagaku, chinese yayao, korean ahaku, and vietnamese nyanyang was supposed to be royal sacrifice music. The rythm belongs to the death. And god. Not really for lowlife. especially western people.

[masterjrn]

I agree, though i am by birth western. People who can't appreciate anything that doesn't mindlessly distract them with cheezy superficial bullshit really get on my nerves. I have to give credit to the uploader for upping this in the first place...I'll though i think they could have some more respect for an ancient tradition

[Chichiri520]

I'd said that it takes an acquired ear to enjoy this, just like it takes an acquired taste to enjoy certain foods. If one likes it, thats good. If one doesnt like it, thats okay, no harm done.

[LoupSolitaire]

i asked a japanese friend to show me some traditional music and here is the link he gave me! OMFG! I've never heard such a noise! I'm LOLed, this is hilarous! But I respect the tradition... Is there any other kind of traditional music, that is listenable for the normal european?

[shtonker8]

I'm an British Boy raised in Hawai'i. I was exposed to Gagaku (Enchanted Music) when I was young and it has held a sacred place within me along with Russian Orthodox Chant, Korean Pansori, and Dance Music of the Renaissance to name a few! Gagaku is meditative, if you can believe it!

[johnnyecho]

it's the oldest avant-garde music .... :)

[dyad44]

Oh god that music is ... different. Their harmonies are very ... different.

[33Sammi32]

Because Western music is just the be-all and end-all of "good" music. I prefer a hichiriki to a trumpet any day. When I play Gagaku, I feel passion and harmony much more than I could with any other music up to now.

People should really open their minds up a little more, there's a whole world of music out there besides Europe and America.

[UsagiVindaloo]

I have a very open mind. I adore the koto and like a lot of eastern music. And I would never suggest that Western music is the be all and end all of good music (ugh, perish the thought) The reason I dislike Gagaku is because it's discordant and unmelodic, not because it's Eastern. For example, that strange nasal flute sound is very difficult to listen to as it's so piercing to the ear.

[UsagiVindaloo]

And I do agree with you that people should open their minds up more. There's a whole world of wonderful music out there. Unfortunately, I was not able to consider this part of that "wonderful music" as it just really feels discordant and cacophonic (is that a word? XD). Good for you that you enjoy it... perhaps you can help me find the melodiousness in it?

[Thorf13]

It could be a lot worse. It could be some sort of electronic techno rubbish. But I got a good laugh from your assessment of the "dancer". To be honest I find it easier to appreciate Gagaku than traditional Japanese dancing. (But please don't tell that to my mother in law!)

[Dewgy]

I actually like it, apart from how much their instruments suck. It sounds like a kind of freakish folk music, though it would probably be soothing without all the noise added in from the (i assume intentionally) poorly tuned instruments.

[33Sammi32]

Just because they're not tuned to A-B-C doesn't mean poorly tuned. Gagaku instruments are tuned to otsu.

[Inujin]

OH GOD!MY EARS!

[Inujin]

How dare you belittle of Gagaku!

[Iluvritz]

O_O thats music?

[japonaliya]

I play and love Japanese trad. music and I am fully familiar with Gagaku. However, the comment about making your ears bleed reminded me a little of YOKO ONO....now THERE'S a true ear-bleeder..

[pseudopunk25]

I second that.

[tmdoctrine]

Most Japanese love gagaku. Japanese disliking gagaku is the rare and mad.^^

[Otwaga]

Foreigner love Gagaku, but Japanese hate it. What a world...

Oh man, I hate this Japan-Hype in the West...

[nekodaisuki]

I'm a Japanese but I love traditional Japanese music :-)

[emitambler]

I'm Japanese, too.　I really love this kind of traditional music, and I also respect those people who can play such difficult instruments!!

[Hiroshi66]

Most Japanese youth hate Gagaku, but isn't that everywhere? You don't see Foreign youth listening to music of the medieval times, do you?

[rozniy]

Try opening this song in three or four windows/tabs at once with 10-15 sec delay between each. Makes a lovely clamour.

[kitek]

Gagaku rlz.

[rozniy]

I like it... but I also like being tied up!

[tirkaro]

but....I like Gagaku.....

[cis84muz]

The Worst? It is a joke? Rather the best! :)