Ha, Hey, Huhah! Huh?

[B_H]

and HI! I built a fretless 3 string thingy and someone on another forum suggested “that’s a shamisen” so I checked wikipedia for what that might be and after stumbling upon of course the yoshida brothers I eventually came across the cool site here . . .

so well I noticed that Huh or Hah shouts seem to be a common style element of shamisen tunes or performances and thought okay cool why not and I definitely like them

actually there’s what might be a similar thing in austrian folk music where the performer might do an occasional juschgaza which is sort of like woo-huh-huh-huh and got a bit of a melody to it and is basically an expression of excitement and happiness . . .

I don’t know who did the first juschgaza and how it became a popular element of more or less exciting song performances in the alps do you know who did the first Hah or whatever is the story of those totally cool shouts?

[Raul_Moreno]

Lol. I think Kyle can explain this. :3

[Kyle_Abbott]

Personally, I don’t know, but it’s totally cool, and that’s all that matters.

Now, one actual use for the yells is to signal to the other players that the song is continuing to the next part. Besides that, probably just for expression.

When in doubt, wiki it. If it’s not on wikipedia, think of the most realistic rational and write it in yourself Just like when I made a wikipedia entry about the sky. “Why is the sky blue? Well, it would look so weird if it was pink!”

Aaaanywho… maybe someone else hear might have an explanation. Denver, any ideas?

[Denver_Norwood]

Hey guys,

Alright, I don’t really have anything definite besides the timing element that Kyle brought up… BUT, I do know that most Japanese martial arts implement a shout (technically a loud exhalation) before a strike as an expression of spirit, and to manipulate ki (chi) in order to protect the body, strengthen attacks, etc. The wikipedia page is here:

Kiai

The shounting/grunting in Tsugaru Shamisen playing might represent that same expression of spirit applied to music, in addition to coordinating the players with each other, but that’s just me guessing around. Unfortunately, I didn’t really find anything concrete…

And I couldn’t find much about juschgaza in Austrian folk music, but it’s probably a combination of playing and yodeling (a yodel is referred to as juchzn in German).

Again, that’s just my assumption, because I coundn’t find anything specifically about juschgaza, but yodeling is definitely melodic and cheerful. The word juschgaza might be a combination of two words in German, the same way that “Tsugaru-Jamisen” is a combination of Tsugaru and Shamisen in Japanese, but again, I’m not sure.

Hope this helps in some way or another

[B_H]

well the juschgaza (a slang term I just spell somehow here) is definitely a single woohoo-hoo-hoo (or so) melodic shout voiced at the start of a song or at any time over the playing of an instrumental part or in between the regular verse refrain singing and is I think just a common style of a joyful expression that the performer may or may not voice at any random time depending on whether he or she feels like doing so or not

actually most songs / performances do not include one but you hear one occasionally and I think it’s just a joyful expression and does not serve any timing purpose . . . origins who knows maybe an old form of communication in the mountains to find each other again without cell phones . . .

also a joyful shout you may voice walking around somewhere although simpler joyful shouts may be more appropriate outside of music these days unless you want to either be thought of as possibly a folk musician of true folk music fan, a crazy tourist into kitschy klischees or an otherwise at least somewhat weird person . . .

didn’t expect the interest or even research about that so I hope I didn’t bore you with that elaboration on my own guesses and thanks for yours and everyone else for the infos on the Hah . . . good enough for me I wondered whether it was something like that or maybe has another specific background so I know now . . .

and I actually play my three string shamisen as I jokingly call it since someone suggested that association for it being fretless - also whenever I see a cat now I think oh a shamisen . . .