Chindon'ya

 

Chindon street music from Japan. Recorded date and personnel are unknown.

Download: https://mega.nz/folder/qvZChSxb#vBbY7HXfcOoT75qtkW_dXg

Tracklist: 

1. 千鳥 - 1:08

2. 炭坑節 - 1:46

3. きぬた - 1:05

4. 米洗い - 2:11

5. 花笠音頭 - 1:39

6. たけす - 1:32

7. 南国土佐を後にして - 2:38

8. 恋の季節 - 2:29

9. 野崎小唄 - 2:16

10. お富さん - 2:09

11. 道頓堀行進曲 - 1:26

12. 花と蝶 - 2:25

13. 美しき天然 - 2:25

14. 四丁目 - 2:31

15. 真室川音頭 - 1:55

16. 野毛山 - 0:57

17. 名月赤城山 - 2:22

Commentary about chindon music:

Street performances by percussion and wind instruments can be found in every part of the world. One of the peculiarities of chindon'ya is that they don't use a bass instrument. Also, tubas and sousaphones, indispensable to western street bands, are not included. This tells us that traditional Japanese music doesn't employ a chord progression, which in the west (including Afro-American music) is at the center of musical structure (it is possible to lay down chords after the music is created, but they do not have an essential role). This is a unique aspect of Asian music in general. Here the music is carried by melody and rhythm. Though it is true that many Japanese pop songs in this century have a western influence, those chosen for chindon'ya do not lay emphasis on chord progression. This explains chindon'ya flexible repertoire: as there are no harmonies, once the wind instrument begins a melody, the chindon and gorosu drum may accompany, and new songs can be played without notice. 

In chindon'ya, over half of the songs played are typical, popular songs of Japan such as "Kayokyoku" or "Enka". There are other songs such as the "Ohayashimono" which are other wise "preserved" in extremely formal and traditional places, and songs such as "Marches" which have mostly been forgotten as old timers in their own domain. These songs, although fewer in number in comparison to those mentioned above, continue to survive as an important part of the Chindon repertoire. And since there are no words nor harmony in chindon performance, only rhythm and melody. Songs which were presented under many different forms are thus stripped down through the filter of cchindon. It is interesting in that the core, the heart of the song becomes visible through this process of extraction.

This music is played by a group of musicians engaged in advertising for stores and entertainment halls on the streets of Japan. Band members regularly wear extraordinarily vibrant costumes as if they just popped out of scenes from the popular theater or movies. After gathering a crowd with their music, they usually make their advertising pitch or scatter handbills. They sometimes play standing at one chosen location, and other times while marching. In either case, they often carry a large rectangle - shaped banner bearing the advertiser's name, who is also their employer. This banner is a traditional Japanese tool, used since medieval days, identifying friend and foe in times of civil war, and for advertising as well, to attract people on the street (you can often see them in the films of Akira Kurosowa). 

One of the most interesting aspects of chindon'ya is that the band is made up of both Japanese and western instruments. The standard western instruments are a big drum called gorosu (from the French, gros caisse; differing from the western instrument in that the part that is struck is placed horizontally), the clarinet and saxophone. Before the Second World War, the shamisen was said to be at the center of the band, but after the war the major parts were taken over by the western instruments. Perhaps this happened because in post-war Japan, the traditional musical instruments lost popularity, and the number of those learning to play the shamisen decreased. Although concerts combining Japanese and western instruments had been attempted since the end of the 19th century, most of these experiments ended in mere novelty, or in the shortlived movement to force Japanese traditional music to follow the concepts of western form. It was common among the indigenous artistic movements to try to make the traditional music compete on a universal level with that of the west. But the Japanese-western mix born of these ideas eventually succumbed to an unnatural twisting of the Japanese characteristics into the western pattern. Compared with this, chindon'ya, originating in the variety halls and kabuki theater, mixed both Japanese and western elements honestly, without excess or distortion.