I bet you guys have lots of favorite videos or spotify songs that you would gladly share. I saw that there were some threads with single videos in it, so I thought we might as well combine all the song tips right here.
I’ll go ahead and add this video with Masahiro Nitta and his father. I like the tune and the quality of the sound in the video is quite good.
Dual shamisen is the way to go, just like in rock with guitars. If you search for Masahiro Nitta on Spotify you can find the latest album that contains this song btw!
This is Osanai Kaoru, he lives in Hirosaki.
He is regarded by many as a player who truly embodies the style and feel of old school Tsugaru Shamisen.
This performance is THE BEST tournament Jongara Bushi I have heard, and I have never gotten tired of listening to it over the past 5 years; it has only become more interesting and impressive the more I improve my skills and further my knowledge.
Please check it out and pay close attention to the way he goes from LOUD to quiet - HARD to soft, and his use of dynamics in his performance, it is absolutely beautiful. I’ve had the privilege to hear him live and also hang out with him in Japan. He is an amazing inspiration to me.
I agree, it’s a very good performance! It’s definately worth reminding yourself as a player to properly use dynamics. There’s a lot of things in life you can just remind yourself of and it will help you perform tasks better.
I’m just sad I couldn’t hear that live, as dynamics are vastly more recognizable without a crappy handycam.
after not making much use of the old one I just created a new channel on youtube and am adding my favorites there (only got to adding some so far) . . . original ending on that Junko’s Shamisen clip . . .
And Grant i’m so envious! That Osanai Kaoru’s performance was the first glimpse of shamisen i ever saw and i still keep watching the video over and over again and you hanged out with him!? damn (Kyle told me he saw Osanai riding a bicycle and i envied even then :D)
Thanks Karl! Great stuff! i thought i’ve seen so many shamisen vids and yet i haven’t seen any of those.
have you seen this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tL2WcqTSEqQ
i sure wasn’t a fan of balalaika but this duet has changed my mind a bit. They work together well and the music is beautiful
I think it was interesting but I would have wanted to hear a better recording. Imo all the depth of the shamisen and probably the balalaika (which I haven’t heard IRL) were missing due to the cam recorder.
Hi! Thought I’d post this to let you guy’s see what we are up to in London. I Went from playing in front of a few people at most, then into the London Matsuri in front of about 300 odd people (My teacher signed me up so i had to do it!). My first reaction was to run away, but thankfully I didn’t puke and managed to hide all my mistakes kind of! At least I got a tee shirt