Juxtaposing genres
In my recent research of traditional flute music in Japanese theater (such as Noh and Kabuki), I came across some interesting material by Yukihiro Isso, an extraordinary nohkan, shinobue, and recorder player. These days it's becoming more and more common to see phrases like 'cross-cultural collaboration' to describe the juxtaposing of seemingly unrelated genres.
Over the years I've been involved with many projects described this way. Sometimes the collaboration is on a shallow level because there's no time to develop something. Other times, and more rewarding, a deeper connection is made and something truly unique and inspiring emerges. A lot depends on getting along with each other and having an open-minded approach to trying new things.
I wonder how audiences see a performance like these in the videos. If they like it, why? If they don't, why not? To me, this works. I like these pieces because the vision is clear and the adjustments made by the individual parts support the overall concept. For example, careful thought went into how the nohkan would play in the 'correct key' sometimes, and other times would play independently from the other musical parts (as done in a traditional noh play). It can be useful to break down and analyze the bits and pieces, but I found that these pieces provided an impact that glued me to the screen and then prompted me to find more of it.
If you have any thoughts to share, please comment below.
Eien
