The first artist to inspire me to play Shamisen was the blind Master Takahashi Chikuzan, a native of the Tsugaru peninsula located in Aomori prefecture. As a teenager living in Japan during the 1980s I had a chance to witness Chikuzan in concert during what may well have been his Peak. The experience left me shaken to the core.
As the 80s became the 90s I began to notice some amazing new developments in the field of Tsugaru Shamisen. It was becoming clear that a new, younger generation of musicians were taking this once old fashioned artform and breathing new life into it. Thanks to the late great Yamada Chisato’s efforts at organizing the annual all-nation tournaments younger and younger players were born all over the country. By the time the 21st century had arrived Japan’s modern musical landscape was resonating with names such as The Yoshida Brothers, Hiromitsu Agastuma, Hanawa Chie and Kinoshita Shinichi.
It was into this world that I stepped out one day on a sunny autumn afternoon determined to find “Something New!” Heading to a local CD store I marched up to the counter and boldly asked the lady “Do you have any CDs of Tsugaru Shamisen music?” Within seconds I was lead to a small collection in the corner passed the Hip Hop, Jazz, Movie Scores and Pop/Rock sections. There I found a disc by an artist I had never heard of. The name bouncing off of the cover in both Japanese kanji and English would be one that would forever change the course of my life, Masahiro Nitta.
With intense curiosity I rushed home to my trusty CD player, eagerly put the disc in and pressed play. My first reaction to Masahiro’s style was that of absolute delight! “This is awesome!” I kept thinking to myself as various meter changes, key changes and other world music influences filled the atmosphere of my room transforming the very air molecules into a Psychedelic Shamisen playground! Without sparing a second I found myself ordering anything else I could find by this Amazing artist and even tried my hand at picking up his music by ear and playing it on my own Shamisen. Sou, Yuki, Shamisen Kid and the movie Overdrive (In which Masahiro not only plays a major role but also displays in visual close ups his Jaw dropping technique) became meaningful landmarks of my musical development at that time.
About 6 months later I found myself attending the Tokyo Hibiya Tai Kai alongside the legendary Kinji Katoh (a.k.a. Shamisen Katoh) from whom I had recently purchased a Mugen 21 electric model. “You can hang out here at our booth while you’re not watching the Tai Kai.” he told me. Mr. Katoh’s booth was set up for players to jam and to try out the various effects that could be hooked up to the Mugen 21. I figured I would try it out for a while, picked up one of the electric Shamisens that were on display and began jamming away. Out of the corner of my eye I began to sense someone watching me. He was an older gentleman yet somehow oddly familiar. After some time had passed Katoh San tapped me on the shoulder. “This fellow over here would like to meet you!” he said. I swung around saying “Domo hajimemashite, Kevin desu!” and extended my hand. It was at that moment that I found out this fellows name…Hiroshi Nitta. NITTA???.. An interesting coincidence, seeing as my favorite player of all time was also named “Nitta”. He addressed me in a distinctly northern Japanese dialect,
“Your style is very interesting!”
“Thank you sir.” I replied
“I notice you use your pinky sometimes!”
“Ah yes. Well, you know sometimes you just can’t reach certain notes!”
I tried my best not to sound awkward but began to imagine I might be failing.
Then, without skipping a beat, Hiroshi said to me “you know my son, Masahiro, is also into using the pinky sometimes. I should introduce you to him!”
If there was ever a time in my life worthy of fainting I figure this was the moment. I stood there speechless for what seemed to be an eternity until I finally found myself forming the words “Masahiro Nitta is your SON?”
“Oh certainly. Have you heard of my son?”
“HEARD OF HIM?!?!?!?!?” I tried my best not to make too much of a spectacle of myself “He is pretty much my favorite Shamisen artist in the whole world!!!”
I passed on my recently self produced CD “California Tsugaru Shamisen” and cellphone number to Hiroshi san requesting that he pass it on to his son. Later that evening I received a call.
“Yo Kevin!” came the voice on the other line. “This is Masahiro Nitta!”
I recognized the voice instantly from the movie “Overdrive!”
“Holy Smokes!” I bellowed out “It is amazing to finally meet you!”
“I checked out your CD! cool stuff!” Masahiro continued, “You should come hang with me in Tokyo next weekend!”
Needless to say, even if I’d already had plans, they were immediately cancelled and soon I found myself shaking hands with the “Shamisen Kid”
Himself.
At the time Masahiro was living in a relatively soundproof apartment in Tokyo and we were able to stay up late into the night Jamming on each others tunes, improvising, trading licks and exchanging various ideas about music. I’d written a modest etude in honor of my first meeting with him and was thrilled when his reaction to it was that of genuine excitement!
The following day Nitta was off to a gig and we parted ways. I took a train back up to Aomori and began packing for my return trip to Santa Cruz, California filled with stories of having just met one of my musical heroes in person.
Back in California I became swept away with various projects but kept in touch with Masahiro often sending him recordings of new Estradasphere material and other original ideas I was working on.
That winter I visited Mr. Nitta again briefly and we jammed some more.
“It’s too bad you can’t come up to Sapporo this time around! I’m going up there in a few days and we’d really be able to work on music a lot if you did!” he mentioned.
“I really appreciate the offer but I need to get back for a big concert we have scheduled!” I felt sad at having had to give such a disappointing reply.
But as fate would have it just prior to my return this time I discovered my passport was missing. In a panic I made some calls and found out that I would need to visit the US embassy in order to rectify the situation. The location of which was none other than …drumroll… Sapporo !
Before long Masahiro’s phone was ringing “Hello? Hey! it’s Kevin again. Remember your offer for me to come visit you in Sapporo?”
End of part 1.
-Kevin Kmetz
About the author
Kevin Kmetz has played Tsugaru Shamisen since the start of this century and is considered a ground-breaking new artist. His unique blend of East and West cultures brought him to the attention of record labels in both Japan and the U.S. such as Mimicry, The End records and EMI Japan. He’s been featured in over fifteen releases which include three solo albums. Kevin has collaborated and worked with some of today’s top artists including Taiko master Hidano Shuichi, Kamancha virtuoso Imamyar Hasanov and Michael Jackson’s guitarist Jennifer Batten. He is the highest ranking foreigner to play Tsugaru Shamisen having won the second place award at The Kanagi all nation tournament in both 2006 and 2007. Kevin is currently a featured member of the international world music group Monsters of Shamisen. He is also the inspiration for the first brand of premium shamisen coffee, “Creamy Kevin.”
