Shigin 詩吟 - Traditional Japanese singing

Here is my recital of Kinshu Jouka no Saku (金州城下の作) by Nogi Maresuke (乃木希典)(1894-1912) at the examination recital for my shigin school in Kobe. Not my best singing at all (I was quite nervous, being my first recital in front of a large group), but I was going for 4th-kyu but managed to be graded well enough to skip 4th-kyu and pass directly to 3rd-kyu for which I am very happy!

Shigin is a singing style which is based around reciting Chinese poetry (mostly written by Japanese figures), although advanced shigin students also recite haiku and waka.

There are very few westerners who have attempted shigin. In fact, I have heard of no others, and neither has my teacher who has been involved with shigin for over 40 years. Has anyone else heard of a western practitioner of shigin? Please comment if you have! I know there are a few shigin clubs in the states, but it seems like the members are completely Japanese.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• shigin
• 詩吟
• traditional
• Japanese
• singing
• music
• 金州城下の作
• 乃木希典

[MrBobobobob2]

or internationally to recognize your own singing talents that people wish they had, like the volume or the pitch or how you use your voice they all come into play, but that doest mean if you can sing it doesn't say that your stage performance as skilled, so looking deeper into the industry is good if you look forward into becoming a gaijin in japan please take note image is everything.

[Obakedake]

Thank you for your comments and insight. Yes, especially for these kinds of tests your image and the performance is critical. You only have one chance and it's easy to become very nervous as 10 judges and many other shigin singers are watching you closely! But I fell that in the last year I have become a much better singer and I hope to get some kind of recognition as a very rare western practitioner of shigin.

[MrBobobobob2]

Hmm interesting, I am a operatic singer so learning shigin is really easy for my Japanese pronunciation too, interesting because I don't know anyone else who sings shigin in English culture ha ha, it is a long journey to perfection.

wakkata.

[Obakedake]

Thank you for the comment. Yes, I feel I have come a long way since this video, but there is still so many nuances to conquer... Shigin and other traditional singing including opera takes a lifetime to master!

[junji1337]

Wow, it is pretty good. I have been practicing some singing in my spare time, since I also study 薩摩琵琶. It is quite hard to sing in my non-native language! I envy that you get to study this formally in a school!

[Obakedake]

Thank you for the comment... But, I might delete this video! It's so embarrassing! I've really feel like I've improved a lot since then. Hopefully I can get another video up soon...

But yes, I am quite lucky to have native teachers who live close to me!

[HauntedTokyoTours]

Impressive! Wow,

[MrBobobobob2]

It depends on how determined you are to be the unique voice that lies inside, but it doesn't mean we have to be the best we can be ourselves with this I guess it takes years of us to realize we can sing it or

[Obakedake]

Thank you! But I am pretty embarrassed about this video... I think I've gotten a lot better these days! My next test is in March so I'll upload it when I sing then!

[Chichiri520]

Woah! You really outdone yourself!! I think your singing sounds nice.