Traditional and Folk Music
– Gagaku and hougaku are the oldest forms of traditional Japanese music.
– Indigenous repertories include Kagura-uta, Azuma-asobi, and Yamato-uta.
– Tōgaku allegedly resembles a Chinese Tang dynasty style, while komagaku may have come from the Korean Peninsula.
– Biwa hōshi, Heike biwa, and goze are itinerant performers and blind women who play traditional instruments.
Wadaiko
– Wadaiko is a Japanese drum used in various musical genres.
– Taiko drums were used during battles to intimidate the enemy and communicate commands.
– Modern ensemble taiko was invented by Daihachi Oguchi in 1951.
Minyō Folk Music
– Japanese folk songs, known as minyō, can be grouped into categories such as fisherman’s work song, lullaby, religious songs, songs for gatherings, and children’s songs.
– The shamisen, taiko drums, and shakuhachi accompany minyō singers.
– Minyō songs often include extra stress on certain syllables and pitched shouts called kakegoe.
Okinawan Folk Music
– Okinawan folk music differs from mainland Japanese folk music.
– It is often accompanied by the sanshin instead of the shamisen.
– Okinawan minyō uses scales that include the half-steps omitted in the pentatonic scale.
Art Music, Jazz, Popular Music, Dance and Disco Music, Rock
– Shuji Isawa formed the Ongaku-Torishirabe-Gakari, a national research center for Western music.
– Japanese composers Kosaku Yamada, Yoshinao Nakada, and Toru Takemitsu developed Japanese Classical Music.
– Jazz maintained a strong presence in Japan from the 1930s onwards.
– J-pop is a loosely defined musical genre that entered the mainstream in Japan in the 1990s.
– Michael Jackson’s album ‘Thriller’ became the first album by a Western artist to sell over one million copies in Japan.
– Japanese rock bands in the 1960s were influenced by Western rock, folk music, psychedelic rock, and mod.
– Japanese underground rock scene is known for noise rock bands like Boredoms and Melt Banana.
– Early punk rock bands in Japan include SS, the Star Club, the Stalin, INUja, Gasenetaja, Bomb Factory, Lizard, and Friction.
– Japan is a successful market for metal bands, and X Japan pioneered visual kei. Source URL:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Japan
