Japan I

 

JAPAN I

A MUSICAL ANTHOLOGY OF THE ORIENT

Bärenreiter-Musicaphon, 1966 (?), BM 30L2012

 As for the series about India in this collection the six albums about Japan are annonced as being released on CD by Rounder. Once again none of these CDs are available from Rounder or anywhere else; so here is the first item, posted until further information.

This is (as the following five) an album borrowed somewhere a good while ago. This one is in quite good state.
The music recorded is called ''Sōkyoku'' meaning music for koto, the zither also called ''sō'' or '''sō-no-koto''. Several schools are known like Ikuta school on side A and Yamada school on side B. Shakuhachi and shamisen play along the koto on side A while two koto and shamisen are involved on side B. This music is there to accompany songs with long sequences without singing; vocals are provided by one or two of the players. 
As usual there is plenty of information in the booklet in English.

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