RSSShamisen concert |
This week I’ve been in the office at the town culture center since its summer break and I don’t have any classes. I’ve mostly been doing stuff on the computer and surfing the web (”prepare for next semester?” - uh, this year my lesson planning has been effectively reduced to zero, so not much to do there).
This afternoon had a little change of pace, there was a shamisen and flute concert at the culture center. The shamisen is a traditional Japanese instrument, a bit like a banjo. Check out the Wikipedia link for some audio and video files. I’ve seen it played occasionally, it seems to be having a bit of a revival. Sometimes I see young guys playing it along Hondori in Hiroshima at night instead of the guitar.
Anyways, it was pretty good. The two guys played for about an hour and a half, with a bit of chatter mixed in. The audience was mostly seniors, but a class of the oldest kindergarten students attended the first half. So they mixed in some children’s songs along with the more traditional ones. They even did the opening theme to My Neighbor Totoro, to which the kids sang along. Really cute! (^o^)
