Last Biwa Singer, The : A Blind Musician in History, Imagination and Performance / Hugh De Ferranti.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

De Ferranti, Hugh.

Series:

Cornell East Asia series ; 143.

Cornell East Asia series, 1050-2955 ; 143

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Yamashika, Yoshiyuki, 1901-1996.

Yamashika, Yoshiyuki.

Blind musicians--Japan--Biography.

Blind musicians.

Biwa players--Japan--Biography.

Biwa players.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xii, 320 p. :) ill. (some col.), maps, music ;

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Ithaca, N.Y. : East Asia Program, Cornell University, c2009.

Summary:

This work is an exposition of the traditions of Japanese blind singers who accompanied themselves on the biwa, and of the complex identity of Yamashika Yoshiyuki (1901–1996), a man widely portrayed as the last such "living relic" of the medieval bards called biwa hoshi. The author draws upon approaches from Japanese historical and literature studies, performance studies and ethnomusicology in an examination of history, which yielded on the one hand images of blind singers that still circulate in Japan, and on the other a particular tradition of musical story-telling and rites in regional Kyushu, of representations of Yamashika in diverse media, of his experience training for and making a living as a professional performer and rituals from the 1920s on, and of the oral compositional process in performances made between 1989 and 1992.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

List of Figures, Tables and Examples

Notes on Conventions in the Text

INTRODUCTION

1 IMAGES AND HISTORIES

2 BIWA MUSIC OF THE HIGO REGION

3 IMAGINING, ENCOUNTERING AND DOCUMENTING YAMASHIKA

4 TALES IN PERFORMANCE

5 THE LIFE OF THE ROAD: Yamashika Remembers

6 BLIND BIWA SINGERS FORGOTTEN, REMEMBERED AND REHABILITATED

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

APPENDICES

APPENDIX 1

APPENDIX 2 First shōdan of Dōjōji (Yamashika Yoshiyuki; performance of October 14, 1989)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

AUDIOGRAPHY and VIDEOGRAPHY

INDEX

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9781942242437

1942242433

OCLC:

927384757