Shamisen Rocks !
 

I love the sound of the shamisen, the traditional Japanese string instrument. Take a look at this video to find out why...

'Rise' by the Yoshida Brothers (they also did the music for the U.S. Wii commercials).

Yeah quite truly has a magnificent sound and is amazing .if star wars theme is played on it it sounds cool but funny :D but here is another good song

YouTube - Agatsuma A&E Breakfast with the Arts 1/3 Solitude from Beams

This style of shamisen playing is called Tsugaru Jamisen and it was developed in and around Aomori Prefecture in Northern Japan. People there have been rocking hard for well over 100 years. That's way before we even heard of 'rock music'.

Here's a superb solo by a young woman:

wow that was amazing. How do you know so much about this ? :vsign:

Easy! You're talking to a Japanese man!

oh ok that explains alot to me. Would you have to go to japan to get one of those and learn to play?

I'm pretty sure you can get one in America. Just don't know where, though.

Here's Kevin Kmetz, a professional American shamisen player.

oh ok wow he is good at that. would you happen to know any store sites online to buy stuff from there if you're in the states?

I could only find one right now...

Chords Canada Catalogue - Shamisen Instruments

Thanks that helped alot. do you have to go to a special place to her people play that in japan?

Yes, so special that I don't even know where!! I'd say small live houses. You know that 'regular' rock bands are far more popular here, so ironically it's pretty difficult to hear live traditional Japanese music in Japan.

The best place would of course be Aomori, the home of Tsugaru Jamisen. They seem to have many competitions at all levels. I saw one on TV many years ago, and it blew my mind. You saw low teenagers with all those techniques there!

I sadly live in Tokyo, which is an hour-and-a-half-long flight away from Aomori.

Oh ok i see. but i bet tokyo could be a beautiful site when the sun goes down. so it is basically not that popular anymore then ?

Right. That's the case at least among the younger generations, which is a shame.

ok i would have to agree with you there and i think it would be awesome if teens would play because it is a shame to see something like that go to waste

I forgot to mention this earlier.

The most influential of the men who developed this playing style was named Takahashi Chikuzan (1910 - 1998). Amazingly, he was a blind man.

And he was blind? Well, that certainly is...impressive xD

Yes, Ma'am. Too bad there's no video of him playing on Youtube. He toured the U.S. in 1986 and the New York Times called him 'the soul detector'.

wow that is amazing :vsign:

I just couldn't help but smile when I saw this thread ^__^ I'm actually doing my paper for World Music on the types of music involved with the shamisen :)

it is quite a wonderful instrument n__n

Thanks for dropping by and leaving a nice comment! Shamisen is deep!

Here's a video of two top pros playing side by side.

shamisen performance venues
 

I noticed you are listed as being in Oklahoma. I don't know if there is anything available in OK City, but once in a while there are performances here in Dallas. At the most, maybe once a year. The Crow Collection for Asian Art sponsors the occasional concert in conjunction with Japanese celebrations and shamisen performances are usually included. But since they are brief, they may not be worth the drive unless you are coming to town anyway.

Next time I see one listed I will post it here.

Thanks to everyone posting the performances!

Wow that is an awesome video such beautiful music and somewhat relaxing :vsign:

It sure soothes my soul!

Metal shamisen.....sorta. This guy rocks!

Nagoyankee,
I am not sure if you can't answer this bit of curiosity for me or not, but maybe having seen more live performances you have noticed.

How are the samisen's miked? Like guitars, putting a mic in front of the performer near the instrument picks up way too much noise from the plectrum (or whatever its called for a samisen) and sometimes too much fingering noise. Do they make them with implanted transducers these days? Like a banjo there doesn't seem any good placement for one on the surface. I haven't noticed any cords in the videos, but these day transducers are wireless, so there wouldn't be any visual evidence, other than the tranmitter on the performer. And a good camerman wouldn't be shooting that, usually.

What's your thought on Keisho Ohno's style vs. the Yoshida Brothers?

I have to thank Miyavi for introducing me to this wonderful instrument.

that link that was posted to buy from, says Canada, do they ship to the U.S.?

I love the Yoshida brothers. Who doesn't know their music, should watch one of their vids on youtube. And don't miss to watch the coop. with Monkey Majik: "Change". ;)