Japan Society Presents Yumiko Tanaka's Shamisen Accompaniment to CROSSROADS Film Tonight
By: BWW News Desk Nov. 15, 2014
Acclaimed traditional gidayu-bushi (specific to bunraku puppet theater) shamisen player and avant-garde musician Yumiko Tanaka provides a thrilling soundscape to the silent film Crossroads (Jujiro, 1928) tonight, November 15th in the second show of Japan Society's 2014-2015 Performing Arts Season multi-month musical program, The Shamisen Sessions.
Where Western tradition saw the era of silent cinema supported by live musicians, Japanese audiences came to expect their indigenous silent films to be accompanied with live narration and a mix of western and traditional Japanese instrumentation, including light percussion such as the kane and taiko and, invariably, Japan's signature instrument for narrative theatrical entertainment, the three-stringed shamisen.
Attendees will experience a nostalgic look back at pre-war Japanese tradition with an exciting synthesis of world-class cinema and live experimental performance from Tanaka, joined by New York-based guest percussionist Satoshi Takeishi. Tanaka, who has collaborated with such leaders of the avant-garde music scene as Otomo Yoshihide, Keiji Haino, Elliot Sharp and Carl Stone, will live-score the pioneering experimental film Crossroads live on-stage through spontaneous improvisation on shamisen (Japan's three-stringed, banjo-like instrument) and taishogoto (an electric instrument much smaller than the traditional Japanese koto, manipulated by pressing buttons that resemble those of a typewriter). The presentation may be traditional, but Tanaka's adventurous and exploratory style will lend a cutting-edge touch of the contemporary to the proceedings.
This audacious film directed by Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or winner Teinosuke Kinugasa (1896-1982), depicts the love between a poor brother and sister through the prism of near-hallucinatory imagery and boundary-pushing, German Expressionism-inspired set design.
The program is part of Japan Society's 2014 Monthly Film Series, The Dark Side of the Sun: John Zorn on Japanese Cinema, curated by musical maverick and Japanese film and culture aficionado John Zorn. As guest curator, Zorn has selected lesser-known or overlooked works (The New York Times notes "none of the movies in Mr. Zorn's series come from the Kurosawa-Ozu-Mizoguchi Japanese canon") from six Japanese directors ranging from experimental animated shorts by Osamu Tezuka to the U.S. premiere of the whimsical made-for-TV movie It's Me Here, Bellett, directed by Nagisa Oshima, all of which will be screened at Japan Society for the first time.
Japan Society's examination of the versatility and evolution of one of Japan's most enduring instruments continues with A Salute to Tradition on November 20, showcasing three major traditional shamisen musical styles-- nagauta (performed predominantly in kabuki repertoire), gidayu (associated with bunraku) and jiuta (developed for tatami room salon concerts) -- as performed by Japan's preeminent instrumentalists and chanters, including a Living National Treasure, a traditional nihon buyo dancer, and a return performance from Tanaka.
To close the series, Japan Society will host an intimate cabaret-style concert with the Okinawan folk/pop duo SAKISHIMA meeting on December 12. Five Things You Need to Know About The Shamisen with Yumiko Tanaka All these events will take place at Japan Society, located at 333 East 47th Street. Tickets to all events in The Shamisen Sessions are on sale now. To purchase tickets, visit www.japansociety.org, or call 212-715-1258.
PERFORMANCE:
Live Accompaniment of Teinosuke Kinugasa's film Crossroads featuring YUMIKO TANAKA with guest percussionist Satoshi Takeishi
Vol. 2 of The Shamisen Sessions at
Japan Society - 333 East 47th Street, NYC
Show at 7:30pm
Tickets - $15 / $12 for Japan Society Members
Followed by an Artist Reception at Japan Society
Famed experimental shamisen artist Yumiko Tanaka (joined by New York-based guest percussionist Satoshi Takeishi) will provide a live accompaniment to the seminal 1928 Teinosuke Kinugasa film Crossroads (Jujiro). Tanaka will live-score Kinugasa's film, most notable for its strikingly expressionistic style and focus on character psychology, with an equally provocative spontaneous improvisational approach.
Made two years after his well-known masterpiece A Page of Madness, Crossroads was the last film to be made in Kinugasa's independent production company. In this story about a poor brother and sister, the brother falls madly in love with cold-hearted Oume from Yoshiwara, the entertainment district in Edo. Literally blinded as a result of his love, he seeks help from his ever-loving older sister who is moved to sacrifice herself to protect her younger brother. The film is famously a jidaigeki (period piece) without sword fights, a stylistic approach unheard of at the time. Crossroads is also distinguished as the first Japanese film to have a sustained theatrical run in Europe.
ARTIST BIOS:
YUMIKO TANAKA was born in Japan's Fukuoka Prefecture and received an MA in musicology from Tokyo University of the Arts. In 1979, she began studying joruri with Takemoto Komanosuke and, the following year, became a pupil of the late shamisen master Nozawa Kinshi IV. Since her debut in 1981 at the Honmoku-tei in Tokyo, Tanaka has been an active shamisen player and vocalist, not only in the world of traditional Japanese music (where she is known by the stage name Tsuruzawa Yumi) but also in contemporary music, opera, dance, theater and film. Tanaka has performed works written by such contemporary composers as Irino Yoshiro, Hayashi Hikaru, Mamiya Michio, Miki Minoru, Moroi Makoto, Takahashi Yuji, Kitazume Michio, Miwa Masahiro, Nomura Makoto, Kawashima Motoharu, Minato Ohiru and Tsurumi Sachiyo. Over the course of her career, Tanaka has also collaborated with internationally-renowned experimental artists from across the world including Carl Stone, John Zorn, Ned Rothenberg, Elliott Sharp, John Russell, Dans les Arbres, Jim O'Rourke, Sakata Akira, Umezu Kazutoki, Haino Keiji, Otomo Yoshihide, Uchihashi Kazuhisa, Yamamoto Seiichi, Yamamoto Seiichi, Yoshizawa Motoharu, Toyozumi Yoshisaburo, Ichiraku Yoshimitsu, Yoshida Tatsuya, Yoshigaki Yasuhiro, Makigami Koichi and Adachi Tomomi. In 2003, Tanaka collaborated with the international known puppeteer Basil Twist for Dogugaeshi, which was commissioned by and presented at Japan Society in 2004, 2007 and 2013. In March 2012, Tanaka toured to the United States, France and China, headlining memorial concerts in commemoration of the 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami.
TEINOSUKE KINUGASA (1896-1982) was a pioneering Japanese filmmaker and actor, best known for directing the 1954 film The Gate of Hell (Jigokumon). As a young director in the 1920s, he was one of the first Japanese directors to incorporate the styles of the burgeoning European avant-garde film scene into Japanese cinema. His initial masterpiece, A Page of Madness, announced Kinugasa as an international director of note. His next film, Crossroads (Jujiro), saw wide release in European cinemas. Kinugasa went on to move away from Japan to study with filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein. His search for movie studios willing to show his movies in Europe was rewarded when the Cannes Film Festival gave his color feature film The Gate of Hell the coveted Palme d'or Award.
SERIES:
The Shamisen Sessions at Japan Society: September to December 2014 From traditional stages to contemporary rock, pop and jazz concerts, the three-stringed shamisen has forged art and entertainment culture in Japan for centuries and continues to shape new spheres of world music today. These four sessions spotlight some of the most sought-after shamisen musicians in Japan performing the full gamut of today's musical styles. The first (and sold-out) concert featured the inaugural collaboration between tsugaru-shamisen virtuoso Hiromitsu Agatsuma and legendary pianist/singer-songwriter Akiko Yano. Upcoming events in the series include Yumiko Tanaka's shamisen improvisational accompaniment for Teinosuke Kinugasa's silent film Crossroads (November 15), leading traditional shamisen musicians and a nihon buyo dancer in A Salute to Tradition (November 20) and the Okinawan folk/pop duo SAKISHIMA meeting (December 12) with Yukito Ara and Isamu Shimoji.
Save $4 when you purchase tickets to two The Shamisen Sessions events and save $6 when purchasing tickets to three performances. This discount is available by visiting or calling the box office at (212) 715-1258 or by downloading the Ticket Form from www.japansociety.org/performingarts.
Founded in 1907, Japan Society is a multidisciplinary hub for global leaders, artists, scholars, educators, and English and Japanese-speaking audiences. At the Society, more than 100 events each year feature sophisticated, topically relevant presentations of Japanese art and culture and open, critical dialogue on issues of vital importance to the U.S., Japan and East Asia. An American nonprofit, nonpolitical organization, the Society cultivates a constructive, resonant and dynamic relationship between the people of the U.S. and Japan.
Since the inception of the Performing Arts Program in 1953, Japan Society has introduced nearly 700 of Japan's finest performing arts to an extensive American audience. Programs range from the traditional arts of noh, kyogen, bunraku and kabuki to cutting-edge theater, dance and music. The Program also commissions new works to non-Japanese artists, produces national tours, organizes residency programs for American and Japanese artists and develops and distributes educational programs.
Tickets for performances and related events at Japan Society can be purchased by calling the Box Office at 212-715-1258 or in person at Japan Society (Monday through Friday, from 11:00am to 6:00pm and on Saturday and Sunday from 11:00am to 5:00pm). Japan Society is located at 333 East 47th Street, between First and Second Avenues, easily accessible by the 4 / 5 / 6 trains at 42nd Street-Grand Central Station or the E train at Lexington Avenue and 53rd Street. For more information, call 212-832-1155 or visit www.japansociety.org.
Photo Credit: Kawakita Memorial Film Institute, Tokyo © Shochiku Co., Ltd.
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