Flower Dance - Japanese Folk Melodies

Kikusui Kofū
Nonesuch - H-72020

Track	Title	Kanji	Length	Artist
1	Hanami Odori	花見踊	07'05
	The title is the short form of Genroku hanami odori, which consists of music for flower dances in the Genroku period-the latter part of the 17th century. It was put into musical form by Shojiro Kineya in 1878 and is played today by many schools of musicians on various kinds of instruments. The flower dance is performed in spring under the cherry blossoms, and the brilliant music of Hanami odori may accompany the flower dances, although it was composed by the master of shamisen for Nagauta performances.
2	Komoriuta (Rando)	子守唄	02'27	Shakuhachi: Kikusui Kofū
	This short lullaby by the shakuhachi is the most popular of all Japanese lullabies.
3	Hietsuki Bushi	稗搗節	03'03
	The sad melody of Hietsuki bushi stems from a folk song of Kumamoto in Kyushu. It is based upon the story of the Heike family, whose members hid themselves in the mountains after they were defeated in the Genji and Heike War. Poverty forced them to eat wild corn instead of rice. Heitsuki means "to thresh the corn with a wooden mallet"-the sound of which is simulated in the tsuzumi {small drum} accompaniment.
4	Kiso Bushi	木曽節	05'03
	The folk song in Kiso, in the central part of Japan. It is about Ontake mountain, which the travelers had to climb to reach other parts of the country. After a better road was built to link the eastern with the western region of Japan, Kiso bushi was adopted into Bon-dance music to accompany the July Bon festivals.
5	Itsuki no Komoriuta	五木の子守唄	06'17
	This sad lullaby reflects nostalgic thoughts of young girls employed as baby-sitters. Itsuki is a small town in Kumamoto, Kyushu, where many prisoners from Korea were held after the war during the last half of the 16th century. The words say "I'm a beggar. You are rich, with obi and rich kimono. Who will weep if I'm beaten to death but the cicadas on the pines. No, not the cicadas, but my young sister who would cry for me."
6	O Edo Nihon Bashi	お江戸日本橋	05'19
	A cheerful melody of Oedo nihonbashi-the bridge built in Nihonbashi Edo (the old name of Tokyo}-is one of the children's songs, widely known along with Sakura Sakura. The music praises the beauty and the grandeur of the wooden bridge.
7	Kōjō no Tsuki	荒城の月	06'33
	The music, which opens with koto, is the Kojo no tsuki composed by Rentaro Taki in 1901. The title signifies the moon viewed from a desolate castle. It is one of the oldest Japanese songs written on the Western scale. Bansui Doi wrote a poem to this music at the Aoba castle in Sendai.
8	Sado Okesa	佐渡おけさ	05'47
	This piece stems from a folk song of Niigata. Its melody was probably brought from Kyushi, the southernmost island; many similar melodies were set to different words and are familiar to today's listeners. Sado kesa describes the small island of Sado where criminals were transported.
9	Kuroda Bushi	黒田節	07'00
	The famous melody of Kuroda bushi derives from a drinking song of the Kuroda family in Fukuoka, Kyushu. The melody was taken from court music known as Etenraku, originally sung to hand clapping by warriors at such occasions as drinking parties. Today the music is performed on the shamisen and other Japanese instruments as accompaniment to sword dances which was probably done in earlier days as well.
10	Magouta		02'14
	This is a traveler's folk song. The mago, horse keepers at a junction between one hill and the next, used to entertain their passengers by singing mago uta to the accompaniment of the horse bells.