Well the simple way it ends up working out in Hirosaki is that most folk just end up playing Jongara bushi. Throughout the Hirosaki tai Kai we do hear the occasional Yosare bushi and Aiya bushi .this past year there were a few San Sagari bushis! but tradtionally those who play anything but jongara are expected not to win anything. Especially the Yuu Sho (top prize).
All that’s been breaking down recently though. The tai Kai’s are changing a little each year. There are more and more gai koku Jin players showing up. Gareth, Dmitri, Mike Penny (from back in the early days),we sometimes see the Ryan sisters, Joshua and others, and of course there’s been Kyle, Grant and me as well! There also seems to be more counterpoint and harmony creeping into the group performances which were traditionally mostly just unison lines of some variation of jongara bushi. And I think Shibata won this past year with a non jongara piece . Agatsuma is also famous for his “Yosare” Yuu Sho at the Kanagi Tai Kai.
As far as playing your original work. Well it’s simply not what those “tai Kai’s” are about. For example, there is an actual formula you are expected to follow for the Hirosaki tai Kai…
It is as follows…
First you are judged on your initial strike on the ichi no Ito.
Then your choushi awase, meaning how you go through the open strings and breath life into each string etc.
Secondly you are expected to display your strength on the Ichi no Ito . Here you are judged on strength and stamina as well as how clear and “in tune” your tone is.
Being that this is a “Tsugaru shamisen” tournament, you are then expected to launch into some kind of Tsugaru style rhythm. The one most suited for solo performance is jongara bushi so 99%of the time
That is what it ends up being.
From this point you are judged on how you can express the spirit of the folk song you are representing. Since most are playing jongara this ends up being almost always an expression in a minor pentatonic scale with certain shifting intervals and stylistic melodic leaps and shapes and phrases being thrown in to indicate connection to the actual melody of the folk song. Here you are judged on how well you actually know the tune and are able to play around with the melody, build it, tear it apart and improvise while still remaining true to the original spirit etc.
Other points you are judged on is your bachi skills.
.they will judge the bouciness and volume of your bachi strike technique. Believe it or not… Yes, they DO listen for the “Loudest”
Shamisen , but it’s more than that. It’s also about the loudest and clearest and most resonant and most far reaching in terms of how far the tone itself can sonically travel throughout the stadium.
And finally they will judge you on your ability to swell and decompress throughout your performance. The one thing they are looking for is “Kyou-jakku” ! Meaning the “contrast” between Powerful and weak forces . In simple western term this means Dynamics! Specifically integrating crescendos and decescendos.
So the dynamic swelling of phrases is one thing they are looking and listening for.
One last additional secret I can reveal to you all is that they actually judge the length of a repeated phrase. Generally when you get to a phrase like trill on a high 16 or 18 position the tendency is to repeat it, build it up and move on to the next thing. But what they are looking for is someone who can hold that phrase for a Loooooooong time and build it up…Slllllloooooowwlly but powerfully and then releas it into the next section.
So as you can see Liam with a formula like this about the most original you can get is to Come up with your own sequence of notes and phrases that all fit into th jongara phrase book .
Kanagi tai Kais are a little less stiff though. A little more laid back.
Except for that there is a part of that tai Kai when some one in the audience will shout out the name of one of the go dai Minyos and you will be expected to jam it on the spot. Kinda scary.
Hirosaki is the real pressure and glory tai Kai though!
Rock that one folks! Let’s do it next year !
sorry!