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Friday, July 10, 2009
Music and Cosplay
Hello... this week I will blog on Japanese hobbies which are music and cosplay! The modern Japanese music scene includes a wide array of performers in distinct styles both traditional and modern, ranging from rock, electro, punk, folk, metal, reggae, salsa and tango to country music and hip hop while the old Japanese music has no specific beat and is calm. The two oldest forms of traditional music are shomyo(Buddhist chanting) and gagaku( Orchestral court music). Gagaku is a type of classical music that has been performed at the Imperial court since the Heian period(794-1185). It is divided into kangen(instrumental music) and bugaku(dance accompanied by gagaku). The samurai often listened to and performing in these music activites, in their practices of enriching their lives and understanding. During Edo period, actors performed the lively and popular kabuki theatre where kabuki could feature anything from historical plays to dance plays and are accompanied by nagauta style of singing and shamisen performance. The biwa, a form of short-necked lute, was played by a group of itinerant perfomers who used it to accompany stories. It is a type of folk music. In addition, numerous smaller group of itinerant blind musicians were formed and they will toured their local areas and performed a variety of religious and semi-religious texts to purify households and bring about good luck and good health. Blind woman also toured the land since the medieval era, singing songs and playing accompanying music on a lap drum. Taiko is a Japanese drum that comes in various sizes and used to play a variety of musical genres. Taiko drum were used during battle to intimidate the enemy and to communicate commands. During 1970s, , the government allocated funds to preserve Japanese culture and many community taiko group were formed. Later in the century, they were spread across the world and video games on this were created. Japanese folk songs are grouped into four main categories: work songs, religious songs, songs used for gathering and children’s songs. In minyo(folk music), singers are typically accompanied by the three-stringed lute known as the shamisen, taiko drums and a bamboo flute called shakuhachi. Terms often heard when speaking about minyo are ondo(describes any folk song with a distinctive swing that may be heard as 2/4 times rhythm), bushi(a song with a distinctive melody), bon uta(songs for Obon, the lantern festival of the dead) and komori uta(are children’s lullabies). Western music was introduced during the Meijij Restoration(latter half of the 19th century). It was later became popular in Japan. Two major forms of music that developed were shoka, which was composed to bring western music to schools and gunka, which are military marches with some Japanese elements. In the 1950s, tango and other kinds of Latin music became very popular in Japan. In 1960s, Japanese bands imitated The Beatles, Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stone. In the late 70s and 80s, electronic pop music in Japan became a successful commodity with the technopop crazy. Art music like western classical music and jazz and Popular music like rock music, punk rock and heavy metal were also introduced to Japan. All these created the idea of Japanese modern music known as J-pop.
Biwa, Taiko drum
Taiko drum video game, shamisen, shakuhachi
Cosplay is short form of costume roleplay. It is a type of performance art whose participants outfit themselves, with often-elaborate costumes and accessories , as a specific character or idea. The characters are usually from various Japanese and East Asian media which include manga, anime, comic books, graphic novels, video games and fantasy movies. Others include performers from J-pop, J-rock, fantasy music stories and objects from cyberspace or real world that are unique and dramatic. In Japan, cosplay can be seen at public events such as video game shows and at dedicated cosplay parties at nightclubs or amusement parks. Since 1998, Tokyo’s Akihabara distinct has contained a large number of cosplay cafes, catering to devoted anime and cosplay fans and the waitresses at such cafes dress as game or anime characters. The single largest and most famous event attended by cosplayers is the semiannual doujinshi market, Comiket. This event is held in summer and winter and attract hundreds of thousands of people. Cosplay costumes are different from Halloweeen costumes. They must adhere to the design of the characters’ attire, and even more generic costumes are often elaborately artistic. Attention to detail is needed to make the costumes like ensuring the seams are aligned properly and finished, thread colours are appropriate and fabric colours precisely match the character and their attire. Some of them would buy the costumes from talented artists while others create their own. A recent trend at Japanese cosplay events is an increase in the popularity of non-Japanese fantasy and science fiction movie charcters. Some people cosplay as characters of the opposite sex and are called crossplay. The reason why they do this is because in anime there is an abundance of beautiful youth who are very attractive and feminine-looking male characters. Thus, in reality, females can often act as these characters better than males. A recent trend in cosplay has been increase in use of social networks to share experiences and photographs with other players. Due to the popularity of cosplay in Japan, it has affected westerner. For almost fifty years, cosplay has been widespread and continues to experience growing popularity in North America and Europe and has recently spread throughout South America and Australia. However, Western cosplay’s origins are based only on science fiction and historical fantasy as opposed to animation. But over the years, anime conventions have become more numerous in the West in the last decade and now compete with science fiction, comic and historical conferences in attendance. In the west, most people made their own costumes rather than purchasing them.
Cosplay costumes
From this week’s research, I have known the various Japanese music from the past to the present, from classical music to J-pop. I also know what cosplay is and how it works. I was quite shocked when I heard that westerners do cosplay too(not for Halloween but for other purpose like spare time) and is currently still influencing other western countries! I thought is only popular and is done in Japan! Anyway that’s all for this wk! Come back next wk as I will be doing on Japanese popular cartoon character! Tata! :)
shalalalala' 9:48 PM