Japanese Music: Popular Genres. J-Pop J-pop is probably the hardest genre of Japanese music to categorize or describe. As is the case for "pop music" in the United States, a great deal of different sounds tend to fall under this label. A lot of the bands tend to have a cutesy, "bubble-gum" pop sound while others tend to exhibit a more edgy dance, r&b, or funk sound. The teen idols of Japan are just as big (if not bigger) as the Britney Spears and Nsync's of the U.S. The members of bands such as Morning Musume, Tanpopo, Luna Sea, and Da Pump are worshiped as pop culture icons. The love for these icons is so great that the death of certain Japanese pop and rock stars in recent years reportedly devestated some young fans so much that they took their own lives out of despair. Not surprisingly, a band or artist's image is often even more important than the music itself. Relevant Links: Bonsai's Jpop Pages: Huge collection of Jpop and jrock pages on practically every artist/band imaginable.
J-Rock and Visual Rock. Japanese music. Japanese music, the highly eclectic musical culture of the Japanese islands. Over the years, Japan has borrowed musical instruments, scales, and styles from many neighboring areas. The indigenous music present before A.D. 453 consisted of chanted poems ( reyei and imayo ), traditional war and social songs ( kume-uta and saibara ), and the kagura, solemn Shinto temple music. All were recitations on a few notes. The importation of foreign music, particularly from China, began in the 5th cent. and continued into the 12th cent.
The cantillations of the Buddhist religion came to Japan by way of Korea in the 6th cent. and were followed in the 7th cent. by the bugaku, a ceremonial dance with music that is of Indian origin. Midway between sacred and secular is the music of the No drama, dating from the 14th cent. The Japanese use two basic types of scale, both pentatonic. Japanese music is of uneven phrase length, and the fourth is a particularly important interval.
See W. Traditional Japanese Music. There are several types of traditional, Japanese music (hogaku). Some of the most important ones are listed below: Gagaku: Ancient court music from China and Korea. It is the oldest type of Japanese, traditional music. Biwagaku: Music played with the Biwa, a kind of guitar with four strings. Nohgaku: Music played during Noh performances. It basically consists of a chorus, the Hayashi flute, the Tsuzumi drum, and other instruments. Japanese Traditional Music. Traditional Japanese music usually refers to Japan's historical folk music. One of the defining characteristics of traditional Japanese music is its sparse rhythm. Regular chords are also absent. It is impossible for a person to beat time to the music. All of the rhythms are ma-based, and silence is an important part of the songs.
Traditional Japanese music has three main types, instrumental, court music, and theatrical. Some traditional Japanese music originated in other countries. Which are popular in Japanese music first came from China. Japanese music has a long tradition and great diversity. Japanese Traditional Music [ History of Japanese Traditional Music ] THE HISTORY OF JAPANESE MUSIC. Please click on any of the links below to jump to a particular section or click here to start at the top.
BEFORE THE MEIJI PERIOD- Instruments BON ODORI AND ONDO - Festival Music OKINAWA- History AFTER THE SECOND WORLD WAR- the birth of Kayokyoku The precise origins of the Japanese people are not known although since ancient times waves of migrating cultures have added their influence to what was already there. Even today, the Japanese absorb foreign culture in a unique way, but maintain a strong independence.
As well as Chinese, Mongolian, Korean and Southeast Asian influences, there appears to be something that is indigenously Japanese. Chinese influences were beginning to be assimilated and modified during the Heian period (794-1185). Go to top BEFORE THE MEIJI PERIOD- Instruments There are three important and representative Japanese traditional instruments. The shakuhachi is an end blown bamboo flute, with its origins also in ancient China.
Go to top Go to top Go to top OKINAWA- History. Traditional Japanese Music - Koto - Virtual Culture. The history of traditional music in Japan is rich and varied. Many musical forms were imported from China more than a thousand years ago, but over the years, they were reshaped into distinctively Japanese styles of expression. Instruments were adapted and newly created to meet local needs, and the most important of these were the shamisen, shakuhachi, and koto. The shamisen resembles a guitar; it has a long, thin neck and a small, rectangular body covered with skin. It's got three strings, and the pitch is adjusted using the tuning pegs on the head, just like a guitar or violin. The strings aren't plucked with the fingers; a large triangular plectrum is used to strike the strings. The shamisen is frequently used as an accompaniment to songs of various types.
The shakuhachi is a flute made of bamboo that's played by blowing on one end. The koto, meanwhile, is a large, wooden instrument with 13 strings. Historians think the koto was born around the fifth to third century B.C. in China. Japanese Traditional Music – Free listening, videos, concerts, stats and pictures at Last. Japan: Memoirs of a Secret Empire . Interactive Instruments. Traditional Japanese musical instruments. Percussion[edit] Strings[edit] Bowed[edit] Kokyū - bowed lute with three (or, more rarely, four) strings and a skin-covered body Wind[edit] Flutes[edit] Japanese flutes are called Fue. there are eight different flutes Reed Instruments[edit] Hichiriki (篳篥) — double-reeded instrument used in gagaku Free reed mouth organs[edit] Horns[edit] Horagai (法螺貝) — seashell horn; also called jinkai (陣貝) Other[edit] See also[edit] Bibliography[edit] Gunji, Sumi and Henry Johnson. 2012.
The traditional instruments of Japanese music. The shakuhachi is Japan's vertical bamboo flute with five finger holes, four in front and one at the back. It is an ancient instrument and yet, due to its versatility, it has a uniquely contemporary appeal. Related to similar flutes found in China, India and the Middle East, The shakuhachi was first introduced into Japan around the end of the 7th century AD and evolved through a series of modifiations until it reached its present form during the 17th. century. During the 17-19th centuries, the shakuhachi was played by Zen monks as a form of 'musical Zen meditation'. Called Komusõ (literally, 'Priests of Nothingness'), these men, often ex-samurai warriors, traveled throughout Japan, collecting alms and playing the shakuhachi, their identity hidden behind deep straw hats called tengai.
The tengai was symbolic of a wall between the spiritual Buddhist world of the Komusõ and the mundane world of everyday life through which they traveled.