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For many outsiders, Japanese music is associated entirely with cheap,
disposable bubblegum pop, of which there is plenty of. However, many
distinct styles and innovative artists play folk and classical music, much
of it very intense, and others play distinct forms of rock, electronica, hip
hop, punk rock and country music.
Classical music
There are two types of classical music in Japan. Shomyo, or Buddhist
chanting, and gagaku, or orchestral court music.
Gagaku
Gagaku is a type of classical music that has been performed at the
Imperial court for several centuries. It consists of three primary bodies:
native Shintoist religious music and folk songs, saibara, as well as a
Korean form, komagaku, and a Chinese form, togaku. By the 7th century, the
shakuhachi (an end-blown flute), the koto (a zither) and the biwa (a
short-necked lute) had been introduced in Japan from China. These three
instruments were the earliest used to play gagaku.
Komagaku and togaku arrived in Japan during the Nara period (710-794),
and settled into the basic modern divisions during the Heian period
(794-1185). Gagaku performances were played by musicians who belonged to
hereditary guilds. During the Kamakura period (1185-1333), military rule was
imposed and gagaku was performed in the homes of the aristocracy, but rarely
at court. At this time, there were three guilds based out of Osaka, Nara and
Kyoto.
After the Meiji Restoration of 1868, musicians from all three guilds came
to Tokyo and their descendents make up most of the current Imperial Palace
Music Department. By this time, the traditional instruments, the biwa, koto
and shakuhachi, had been supplemented by various drums, shamisen (a
three-stringed lute, modified from a native Okinawan instrument) and
shinobue (a transverse flute).
Related to gagaku is court theater, which developed in parallel. Noh was
developed in the 14th century, and soon evolved into bunraki and,
eventually, the lively and popular kabuki; kabuki, in turn, helped invent
the popular nagauta style of playing the shamisen.
Biwa hoshi
The biwa, a form of short-necked lute, was played by a group of itinerant
performers (biwa hoshi) who used it to accompany stories. The most famous of
these stories is The Tale of the Heike, a 13th century history of the
triumph of the Minamoto clan over the Taira.
Yukar
- Among the minority Ainu of the north, yukar (mimicry) is a form of
epic poetry. The stories typically involve Kamui, the god of nature, and
Pojaumpe, an orphan-warrior.
Folk music
There are four main kinds of Japanese folk songs (min'yo): work songs,
religious songs (such as sato kagura, a form of Shintoist music), songs used
for gatherings such as weddings and funerals, and children's songs (warabe
uta). Many of these songs include extra stress on certain syllables, as well
as pitched shouts (kakegoe), especially in northern Honshu.
In min'yo, singers are typically accompanied by shamisen, taiko and
shakuhachi. A guild-based system exists for min'yo; it is called iemoto.
Education is passed on in a family, and long apprenticeships are common.
A unique form of drumming from Sado island has become internationally
famous through the groups Ondekoza and Kodo.
Okinawan folk music
Okinawa has been under the control of Japan since 1609, except for a
brief period of US domination during and after World War 2. Umui, religious
songs, shima uta, dance songs, and, especially katcharsee, lively
celebratory music, were all popular.
The arrival of Western music
After the Meiji Restoration introduced Western musical instruction, a
bureaucrat named Izawa Shuji compiled songs like "Auld Lang Syne" and
commissioned songs using a pentatonic melody. Western music, especially
military marches, soon became popular in Japan. Two major forms of music
that developed during this period were shoka, which was composed to bring
western music to schools, and gunka, which are military marches with some
Japanese elements.
As Japan moved towards representative democracy in the late 19th century,
leaders hired singers to sell copies of songs that aired their messages,
since the leaders themselves were usually prohibited from speaking in
public. This developed into a form of ballad called enka, which became quite
popular in the 20th century, though its popularity has waned since the 1970s
and enjoys little favour with contemporary youth. Famous enka singers
include Misora Hibari and Ikuzo Yoshi. Also at the end of the 19th century,
an Osakan form of streetcorner singing became popular; this was called
ryukoka. This included the first two Japanese stars, Yoshida Naramura and
Tochuken Kumoemon.
Westernized pop music is called kayokyoku, which is said to have begun
with "Kachusha no uta" (1914; see 1914 in music). This song was composed by
Nakayama Shimpei and first appeared in a dramatization of Resurrection by
Tolstoy, sung by Matsui Samako. The song became a hit among enka singers,
and was one of the first major best-selling records in Japan. Kayokyoku
became a major industry, especially after the arrival of superstar Misora
Hibari.
Later, in the 1950s, tango and other kinds of Latin music, especially
Cuban music, became very popular in Japan. A distinctively Japanese form of
tango called dodompa also developed. Kayokyoku became associated entirely
with traditional Japanese structures, while more Western-style music was
called Japanese pops. In the 1960s, Japanese bands imitated The Beatles, Bob
Dylan and the Rolling Stones, along with other Appalachian folk music,
psychedelic rock, mod and similar genres; this was called Group Sounds.
Since then, bubblegum pop and J-Pop has become one of the best-selling
forms of music, and is often used in films and television, especially in
Japanese animation. The rise of disposable pop has been linked with the
popularity of karaoke, leading to much criticism that both trends are
consumerist and shallow. For example, Kazafumi Miyazawa of The Boom, claims
"I hate that buy, listen and throw away and sing at a karoake bar
mentality".
Japanese rock
Homegrown Japanese rock had developed by the late 1960s. Artists like
Happy End are considered to have virtually developed the genre. During the
1970s, it grew more popular. The Okinawan Champluse, along with Carol, RC
Succession and Harada Shinji were especially famous and helped define the
genre's sound. In the 1980s, the Southern All Stars became the biggest band
in Japanese rock's history, and inspired alternative rock bands like Shonen
Knife & the Boredoms and Tama & Little Creatures. Most influentially, the
1980s spawned Yellow Magic Orchestra, which was inspired by developing
electronica, led by Hosono Haruomi.
In 1980, Huruoma and Ry Cooder, an American musician, collaborated on a
rock album heavily influenced by Okinawan music for Shoukichi Kina. They
were followed by Sandii & the Sunsetz, who further mixed Japanese and
Okinawan influences. At the same time, singer-songwriters like Yuming became
extremely popular. Other forms of music, from Indonesia, Jamaica and
elsewhere, were assimilated. Soukous and Latin music was popular as was
Jamaican reggae and ska, exemplified by Rankin' Taxi and Tokyo Ska Paradise
Orchestra.
Roots music
In the late 1980s, roots bands like Shang Shang Typhoon and The Boom
became popular. Okinawan roots bands like Nenes and Kina were also
commercially and critically successful. This led to the second wave of
Okinawan music, led by the sudden success of Rinkenband. A new wave of bands
followed, including the comebacks of Champluse and Kina, as well as new acts
like Soul Flower Union. An updated form of Okinawan folk called kawachi ondo
became popular, led by Kikusuimaru Kawachiya; very similar to kawachi ondo
is Tademaru Sakuragawa's goshu ondo.
Western classical music
Western classical music has a strong presence in Japan and the country is
one of the most important markets for classical music. A number of Japanese
composers have written in the western classical music tradition, with Toru
Takemitsu (famous as well for his avant-garde works and movie scoring) being
the best known. Also famous is the conductor Seiji Ozawa.
List of Japanese popular artists (including some J-Pop)
- Agatsuma Hiromitsu
- Aikawa Nanase
- Aiko
- Aya Matsuura
- Ayumi Hamasaki
- The Brilliant Green
- Buddha Brand
- B'z
- Chara
- Chitose Hajime
- Da Pump
- Dir En Grey
- Do As Infinity
- Kiroro
- Kyoko Fukada
- Mad Capsule Markets
- Missalina Rei
- Morning Musume
- MUCC
- Nobukazu Takemura
- Pizzicato Five
- Romantic Mode
- Shakkazombie
- Shiina Ringo
- SMAP
- The Pillows
- TSPO
- UA
- Utada Hikaru
- X Japan
- Zeebra
- Traditional instruments
- Shakuhachi (Bamboo Flute)
- Shamisen
- Taiko Wadaiko
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