Itsuki No Komoriuta Kumoi scale guitar improvisation

The lullaby of Itsuki.
I recorded the original melody and then an improvisation using the Kumoi Scale with some arpeggios and tremolo.
This song is very sad and slow so i decided to, instead of showing a video of myself, make a slideshow with some images from Santiago, Pucón and Viña del Mar, Chile.
I am playing an Esteve Classical guitar, and this was recorded with a Samson condenser conected into my computer.

Esta canción fue creada en Japón durante el siglo 16 y trata principalmente sobre gente pobre que debía trabajar muy duro y esperaba con ansiedad que llegaran las festividades de bon para poder volver a su lugar natal a adorar a sus antepasados.

the next text and lyrics are taken from http://www.davidvanooijen.nl/

Komoriuta, in Japanese writing, means lullaby, and like any country, Japan has its fair share of them. Every region of Japan, perhaps every village, has its own komoriuta, and many of these have become part of the national cultural heritage. Itsuki no komoriuta, the lullaby of Itsuki, is perhaps the most famous of all, and its haunting melody has inspired even Western composers to write arrangements. But when we look at the text of this, and many other komoriuta, we don't find the soothing words we would expect in a lullaby. It is about people waiting for the festival of bon when they will, like everybody else in Japan, have a holiday to return to the villages where they were born to commemorate their dead ancestors. These are poor people working for the rich, and they are scolded when the babies they have to look after are crying. But who will cry over them when these poor people are dead? This is a text from the Tokugawa period (1603-1868), when Japan was a class society and the difference between rich and poor was very big. During this important part of Japan's history her people were divided into four classes: samurai, farmers, craftsmen and merchants. The samurai class was the highest. They enjoyed many privileges, but also had responsibilities and were supposed to set a good example for the rest of society. The next class was that of the farmers, placed so high because the livelihood, i.e. the rice, of the samurai depended on them. But farmers had to work hard, were bound by many restrictions and were generally very poor. Craftsmen came next, followed by merchants. Merchants were placed on the lowest rank of the class system because they produced nothing and acted only out of a desire to amass wealth. Outside these four strictly defined classes were on the one end courtiers and priests, doctors and some intellectuals, and on the other end the outcasts, a group of classless people who performed the most despised tasks. Working in virtual slavery for the rich and looking after their babies was a way to survive for these people.

Lyrics:
Itsuki no Komoriuta

We will work here until Bon,
So we will no longer be here from Bon.
If Bon comes early,
We will go home early.

We are beggars,
They are of a good family.
Wealthy people with nice sashes
And nice kimonos.

We don't like to take care
Of crying babies.
If they cry
The blame is put on us.

Even if I die,
Who will lament my death?
All that is heard is the chirping of the cicadas
Among the pine trees in the mountain near by.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• guitar
• exotic
• scale
• japon
• japanese
• winter
• beach
• trees
• cloud
• lake
• guitarra

[omurodog]

Thank you very much for the very beautiful rendition of the song. I heard the tune many times and it has a melancholic tune, but this was the first time I got to read the translation. It's beautiful to hear the song with a classical guitar. if you don't mind my asking, what is the model of the beautiful guitar?

[654321654321]

hi, thanks for your comment.

this is an Esteve guitar, model GR07.

R.

[spintaxx]

This is awesome! beautiful playing :)

[654321654321]

thanks!!

[ARANJUEZCM]

It's absolutely beautiful -the images,the expression,the PLAYING......

You have given the spanish guitar a Japanese touch with your right hand. And what's more? -the improvisation! Last but not least,the tempo is perfect as speed would kill this piece.

Thank you for sharing

[654321654321]

thank you very much!

i appreciate you comment.

[nokkosperhonen]

You brought me much musical beauty. Thank you.

[avivajazz]

Itsuki No Komoriuta (Itsuki's Lullaby) ~ Guitar Improvisation on Kumoi (Japanese Musical Scale)

[dizzysarah1]

This music is so beautiful, it gives me goosebumps

[BigTymerPimp]

@654321654321 I love this verion and want to learn it.

If it's not too much trouble, can you tell me if you're playing in like E Kumoi so I can learn this by ear?

[KaiSuTeknon315]

you played so beautifuly it inspires me to learn how to play this haunting tune..thanx for posting

[bakakodachi64]

just something about foreign folk music, it calms me and stableizes my emotions like nothing else can.

[senjutori]

Skillfully playedThanks!

[HijioriDollKokeshi]

This should be made into an Enka.

[TheLastHylianTitan]

it's strange hearing this song on a guitar, but at the same time, it's really good. the tone of the lulluby is of corse a deep sense of sadness, but your music makes it deeper. it's like the sadness is coming from another person, but is parallel to the original sadness...kind of like seeing a girl cry for her dead lover, then seeing a guy cry for his dead lover. i love it, this is really good.