Hirosaki Taikai 2013!

General
#61

Oh, I’m so happy after reading all your post’s here!
When I visited the Hirosaki tournaments (just watching) with Grant and Kevin this year I decided I would be participating next year. It was an absolutly crazy, wonderful and epic experience! The sheer volume of all the people practicing their pieces, overwhelming! So wanted to be a part of it!
I ventilated the idea of getting people together for Hirosaki 2013, and now you started it all Pat, awesome!

I would love to be a part of the group thing, if we get started on it during the autumn it shouldn’t be a problem to learn a song and then get togehter and practise a couple of days before, as Grant suggested. So cool!

Of course we should start organizing. I’m planning on going in the middle of april and staying for 3-4 weeks, both for my Bujinkan training and Shamisen tournaments.
I would be happy to try to help out with some practical details while there. Maybe rent a bus or something like that. If anyone is interested we could make a road trip from Tokyo up to Misawa, maybe play togehter in towns on the way and have a great lot of fun. How much time is needed for that kind of thing, you know Kevin?
Then we would have a wan/bus to go to the tournaments with later on too.

Kevin, thank’s for all the great vids! Good inspiration, love them. (Found some of your shamisen productions on Spotify, so they are filling my ears with joy every now and then.)

I’m on for both 2013 and 14! Rock on you people!

#62

Kevin - I wouldn’t have a choice man, I have tinnitus in both ears so I worry alot.

I don’t normally get serious, but I will for this. I have been meaning to say this for a while.

Use earplugs when you play people and ditch the iPods!
Don’t end up like me! I see kids on the bus listening to music so loud everyone can hear it, I wanna grab them and tell them exactly what they are doing. If you get tinnitus like mine sleeping becomes a chore, you fear it because you know it can sometimes be impossible, it will effect your whole life, your happiness, your job, and there is NO cure.

Rant over :stuck_out_tongue:

#63

I don’t listen to my MP3 player too loud. The problem is when you’re at a smaller club gig and all the people there know the band and the songs, so they have to raise the volume when everyone is singing along. Once such an occasion gave me tinnitus symptoms for a month. I was quite scared that I had ruined it all.

But yeah, take care of your ears.

Now I had to share that great music. Here’s a clip from that gig. One of my favorite Swedish bands! Hope you’ll dig it as much as I do.

#64

Karl,
Yyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeaaahhh! Like how it all kicks in. Kinda bluesy but still sounds like Sweden I guess !

Liam,
I’m so sorry to hear that bro . I have struggled with tenitis as well. It sucks! It’s like…
"hey guys, you wanna jam?..eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
“so what’s gng on tonight?”…eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
“well good night!”…eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

Yup. Been through that a lot actually. Now a days my ears seemed to have stopped caring. Either that or I’ve just developed a tremendous capacity for ignore the ringing.

Anyway I feel for you and Definately know what you are going through. Sorry to hear you are struggling with it. I’ve heard that doctors today can replace your inner ears hearing system from hairs to tiny fibers of some sort which from what I understood can actually improve a lot of hearing loss and hearing issues in general. also heard the operations cost millions so. . . . :umbrella:

Anne,
Great to hear from you here on the forum again. Seems like its been a while. How is everything going with you?
Thanks for all your encouraging words and yes let’s stay in touch about next years tai Kai. We can calculate how much time we will need once we have more idea who is coming out etc. but either way thank you very much for your enthusiasm and for sticking with it.
Remember you have millions of fans but they are simply out of visual range for the moment due to a split in time that we call past, present and future! I also wanted to mention that I absolutely love the 7th track from your hyper cyber release in 2022. It shows a tremendous musical maturity from your earlier works that you will release around 2018, 2019. Also that live concert where you are being backed up by something like 800 Shamisen players behind you on stage was insane! Oops sorry. I should rephrase that… It is going to be insane. You know, because it hasn’t happened yet! That’s going to be around the summer of 2020.

Sorry for giving away so much of the future but when you have the Nostradamus gene like I do it is sometimes just so tempting to give away little hints.

Also, Linda Caplan might be coming out? Will be swell to meet you in person .

Best of luck everyone for preparing for next year!

#65

Also, Linda Caplan might be coming out? Will be swell to meet you in person .

Likewise. I’m definitely planning to come to Hokkaido 2014. I don’t have anywhere near the bright, shiny future that Anne has, of course [lol], but hopefully I’ll be back up to speed (Tsugaru-ly) by then.

As for 2013, until we get concrete details, can’t say if that can fit in with my existing Japan schedule next May…

#66

Kevin - I’m sorry to hear that man, thats amazing that you can’t really hear it anymore, you who’ll devote your ears to science :stuck_out_tongue:
I’ve never read about anyone really making it better, some seemed to have learnt to ignore it with expensive treatments…maybe one day :smiley:

#67

Kyle and I have been trying out some musician earplugs by Hearos/Etymotic Research (same product). They work great for me; reducing volume without affecting sound quality very much at all. And only ~$12!

Kyle, how’ve they been working for you?

#68

Oi, Kevin!
I will really love the big concert, it will be so awesome. I’m actually started to look around for my back-up shamisen players. Also going for some cool accordion and maybe bring in a couple of cello- and violin players. Will you join in too?
The CD’s willen be-en awesome! :stuck_out_tongue: (Futurum perfectum??)

Yup, it would be so fun if we were a group going for the Hirosaki tournaments! Lets keep in touch!!!
I find it so cool that we are so many people here on bachido, giving our best to spread shamisen music into the world!

#69

Anne, (and Grant),

Hey! I am very excited that this dream exists ! Am very thankful to both of you guys for helping me pull through this past spring! And to Pat for starting this topic here on the forum ! I suggest we start
Planning early to organize a little . One thing to start looking into is who is truly interested in joing in…but first,

I heard Kyle’s idea but think that the notion to go through with Kita no Hibiki would hold more dignity and do not think it is too Challenging considering who might be able to possibly or Definately commit to attending
So far it seems that you guys Anne and Grant are a Definate yes and I can Definately comit to it and Pat seems good to go…Linda…Sid…
Liam, Karl H.?, Eric J., Kyoko, Cana? Pete?..Josh?.. Neil…Norm? Jamie?..Kyle? …Mike Penny? Luke?. . .
-(Yo! I mean seriously…you know it already Big “L”)! …anyone else?

So anyway… Things like that will need to start being taken into consideration to begin making plans. Anyone who wants to help build a little committee to help organize this would be awesome right about now. As the time gets closer we will need to start doing things like…

  1. hotel reservations!
  2. coordinating time schedules (for example…making sure everyone can come early enough to practice a bit together!)
  3. organizing Skype sessions!
    ( Anyone wanting to join in but who does not know the tune yet can organize a time to Skype one of the bachido guys that know it fairly well . This way we should be ale to get it pretty well executed at the tai Kai’s! Plus it will mean a lot to Masahiro and more importantly… Hiroshi (not to say one is more important than the other but . . . ya know what sayin???)

Anyway …yeah!

Bachi On!

#70

This looks exciting!

Oh and hello Bachido world, nice job with the site, store, and building a global community.

#71

Welcome to Bachido, Gareth san! It is so nice to have you here.

#72

Welcome Gareth!

Kevin: I would love to come in 2013 but I doubt I will have the money, also I haven’t played for about 3 weeks :(. I c learly have some kind of Repetitive Strain Disorder so I need to go the the docs to confirm but as of right now my musical future is extremely uncertain. When does everything need to be booked/sorted by and how much does hotels etc usually cost (roughly)???

Defo a good idea to do it over skype though! I was gonna suggest some of you actually gave lessons over skype for a fee :slight_smile:

#73

Kevin: I’ll give a tentative “I’m interested”. I haven’t played Tsugaru style in about four years, so I’d have to work things back up again. Also, I have two koto concerts in Japan in May, and if I came to Japan to play in the taikai(s), that would mean I’d be without access to practicing koto for about two weeks prior to my first gig… So not sure yet if 2013 will work logistically… Still definitely up for 2014, tho’.

#74

Skype sessions would be amazing ^^
i cant really afford kyle abbots book right at this moment, so teaching myself is kinda limited…

I would love to come to the takai ^.^
Still… dont have a job… and i’d like to have atleast £500 spare to spend/ have as emergency fund whilst there, and if i go i’d also bring the bf as its kinda far and you guys might lose me in seconds >.>;;
I get lost in crowds, and playing find the Gajiin in the middle of japanese people with me, sounds fun but might not be fun all the time XD

If i am able to land my silversmithing course (its 10 week) i could maybe get an apprenticeship/ or job and with hope i could save enough :slight_smile:

We would probably need a guide or something though to be honest lol someone to meet us at airport.

What date is the takai?

#75

Cana: I guess the Taikai date is not open yet but usually early March.

Kevin: I would like to show my interest on joining in and waiting for Kyle’s book to come. At least I need to be able to play Kita no hibiki.
One problem is my parents are very old and always worrisome, especially father is getting very weak at the age of 91.

Even next one does not allow me to join in, sure to hope to go to the 2014’s!

#76

thanks kyoko, not sure if i could go… as my birthday is in march, But you never really know I’ll try an see i should know by december :slight_smile:

#77

I began to practice Kita no Hibiki on Kyle’s shamisen book. Two pages are finished in a slow pace and it is going to be played OK as I am trying very slowly little by little.
Wondering how fast we play it!? It is very attractive tune if it is played fast. Trying my best.

#78

Hey folks!

Yesterday, Nitta san was talking about next year plans, and I told him how everyone (well, everyone who is able to) is wanting to compete as a Bachido team at the Hirosaki taikai.

Needless to say, he’s beyond stoked. He envisions everyone in the Bachido shirts stormin’ the castle, as it were. :wink:

He did think Kita no Hibiki would be complex for everyone to play the standard parts. However, he was all for doing it if there were arrangements so beginners could also participate it the piece as well.

Guess we better get the show on the road! (As they say) :slight_smile:

#79

Indeed.
Well so far people going to participate seem so far as follows…

Me
Grant
Anne
Pat
(I want to invite Gareth seeing as he lives right there )
And possibly Linda, Liam , Kyoko

If I’ve left anyone out please leave your name below.

Just want to start putting things in perspective. Right now simply put if we wish to join the tai kai as bachido we need more participants ! I’m not sure exactly what the limit is for group entries but I am pretty sure it’s more than five or six. I get the nagging feeling it’s like 8 participants as the limit for an ensemble. But I’ll look it up later. I cant read Japanese very well so Its hard sometimes to decipher these things.

Jamie, Norm? Perhaps.
Kaoru Osanai?

#80

" I’m not sure exactly what the limit is for group entries but I am pretty sure it’s more than five or six. I get the nagging feeling it’s like 8 participants as the limit for an ensemble. But I’ll look it up later. "

Good morning, everyone!
As Hirosaki taikai cite says, Group A requires 11or more members and play is within 4 minutes. Group B, 5-10 members and play within 4 minutes.Both section had 7 groups this year’s Taikai.
So, at least five members will be fine.

© 2020 Kyle Abbott