Another excellent recording of Tokiwazu; the style of joruri narrative music used in kabuki dances. This CD of fairly rare material, performed by the great master of the tradition.

Different styles of music accompany kabuki music, all vocal and all accompanied by the shamisen. The Tokiwazu school was founded by Tokiwazu Mojitayu (1709-81) to accompany kabuki dance scenes. Tokiwazu is quite a gentle style and can be used in romantic scenes.

The Tokiwazu style often accompanies historical which have a mystical nature as it can convey a sense of dignified grandeur. The shamisen used is smaller than in other styles with a medium size (chuzao) neck.

Created by Kiyomoto Enjudayu (1777-1825) in 1814, the main characteristics of the kiyomoto style are the strong lyrical quality of the music and the high pitched vibrato vocals.

Nagauta is a form of utaimono, lyrical shamisen music. Created in the early 17th century its the oldest form of music that accompanies kabuki. It is at times highly rhythmical and features flute (nohkan) and taiko (stick drum) otsuzumi (hip drum) and kotsuzumi (shoulder drum). The shamisen is the smallest of all with a hosozao (narrow neck).

The great vocalist Tokiwazu Chitose Dayu on music to accompany kabuki dance

Kanda Matsuri (Kanda Festival) is a kabuki dance that dates back to 1839. The dance conveys all the atmosphere of an Edo festival, with lively music and dancing.

The music that accompanies a classic dance scene in bunraku (puppet theatre). A celebratory dance that requires some very skilful coordination between the puppeteers.

Fuji Musume is one of the most famous kabuki dances, and was based on ancient drawings found near the town of Otsu. A girl wears a headpiece with red threads, and holds a wisteria branch over her shoulder- one of the most famous images of Japanese dance. In Hane no Kamuro, a girl from the Yoshiwara district enjoys a brief respite in the Yoshiwara district, by playing a game similar to badminton.

Sarashime (the cloth bleaching girl) is a kabuki dance about Okane, a strong girl from Lake Biwa who can stop horses with one hand and hold a bucket in the other. In the first section of the dance she subdues a horses, while the next, romantic section, is about love and the eight famous views of Omi prefecture. The dance ends with a lively festival dance and a fight in which Okane defeats a group of fishermen. In Asazuma Bune, a court noble performs a dance of love between a Chinese emperor and his lover, which changes to a hand dance, a hand-drum dance, with the tempo increased to the beat of a bell and drum. This dance is very cleverly and seamlessly executed and the music also goes through many changes.

Katsusaburo Renjishi is the story of a lion family, with the lion training its cubs to survive the harsh environment. These popular dances originated from noh.

In the late Edo period, some popular songs which had developed outside of kabuki, called 'hauta' were worked into kabuki dances. Karigane is one such piece with some great music written by Mokuami. Yudachi is a dance about a lower class man who falls in love with an aristocratic women on the bank of the Fukagawa in Edo.

Tenarai is a dance the depicts the innocence of girlhood and school girls swing their notebooks, and play with a butterfly. Ame no Goro was first performed in 1841and shows the soft side of the hero Soga Goro Tokimune as he travels at night to visit his lover Kewaizaka no Shosho in the pleasure quarters.

Kochou (The Butterfly) is a dance that portrays two butterflies flying around a lion. Shuron (Religious Debate) is a comic interlude of the dance Renjishi.

Azuma Hakkei (Along Azuma Trail) is an energetic dance that takes its themes from nature, and depicts boats on Tokyo's Takawa River. Tatsumi Hakkei is a lesser known but beautiful dance from kabuki.

Sagi Musume (Heron Maiden) is another of the most famous kabuki dances. A white heron takes on the form of a maiden, dressed in white. The first stage of the dance represents a bitter love story, before transforming into a bright Edo maid in a flowery dance. In the third stage the dancer meets a tragic end, falling into the pits of hell.

Matsu no Hagoromo (The Celestial Robe on the Pine) is a dance based on a noh player and is a folk tale about a fisherman who finds a celestial robe made of feathers that a spirit had left hanging on a pine tree.

Osome is dance based on the story of Osome, the daughter of an oil seller and Hisamatsu, the apprentice. Because of their social status, they realize they can never be together, so they travel to the Sumida River to commit suicide.

A middle aged woman who used to be a geisha dances on the banks of the Sumida River among falling cherry blossoms, portraying the joys and heartaches of her life.

The music to four short dances. The final song, Kikuzukushi, is often used to teach the basics of Japanese traditional dance.

Gidayu is the major form of narrative shamisen music, founded by Takemoto Gidayu (1651-1714) in the commercial centre of Osaka. Together with playright Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653-1724) they created bunraku, the puppet theatre tradition. Many kabuki plays were derived from bunraku. The gidayu musicians are positioned on the stage left, the singer (tayu) releasing an extraordinary range of vocal expressions, making them as much actors as singers. This CD is performed by a great standard bearer of the Takemoto Gidayu tradition.

Tokiwazu is a form of narrative shamisen music, founded by Tokiwazu Mojidayu (1709-81) that is used in kabuki theatre to accompany dances. It has a less intense vocal style and the shamisen part is usually less percussive. It is the oldest of the Bungo Bushi styles that are performed in kabuki. The Tokiwazu chanter performs with live actors so only says the occasional line

The singing style and music of Tokiwazu is altogether lighter than Gidayu. Many of the pieces accompany 'hengemono' or transformation dances in kabuki plays, short dances where the actor changes quickly between different characters.

If Gidayu is the main narrative branch of shamisen music, then Nagauta (long song) is the main lyrical branch. While Gidayu originated in Osaka, Nagauta is a product of Tokyo. Nagauta is sometimes said to be the heart of kabuki music, its growth intrinsically linked to that of kabuki. Lessons in nagauta became popular alongside kabuki dance, or 'buyo' one type of which is the classical dance of kabuki. Sukeroku is one of the great kabuki plays, staged for the first time in 1713.

Nagauta (long songs) began as several short songs that were strung together. Since kabuki grew out of noh, the usual noh drums and flute are part of the ensemble together with tsuzumi drums. This CD features three famous nagauta pieces.

Nagauta was originally used for dance accompaniment and consists of six standard sections; oki, michiyuki, kudoki, odoriji, chirashi and dangire. The music for Niwaka Jishi was written by Kineya Rokusaburo IV in 1834. The Niwaka Jishi (Niwaka Lion) is based on the dance, Aioi Jishi, but was adapted to reflect the Edo Yoshiwara district.

Kiyomoto is a narrative style of shamisen music that was founded by Kiyomoto Enjudayu in 1814. It is quite different to Gidayu or Tokiwazu, reflecting both narrative and lyrical styles. Particularly the vocal part is a lot higher with a falsetto quality. The shamisen is also thinner and the tunings higher. Generally the shamisen sounds less percussive and because of its relative sweetness, kiyomoto is often used to accompany the love scenes of a kabuki play.

Shiokumi is one of the most famous kabuki dances, performed in an original form in 1821. The dance is about the shiokumi or salt scooper who carries with her saltwater that is used to make salt. The story is based around a poet, Ariwara no Yukihara who had affairs with two sea diving sisters. A diver later appears wearing beautiful clothes dancing to the memory of the poet. Tomoyakko (The Vassel) is about a servant (yakko) who goes to a red light district with his master but gets lost.

Echigojishi (Echigo Lion Dance) was composed by Minezaki Koto from Osaka and is a popular nagauta piece. In the dance, a man wears an elaborate carved lion head. Matsu no Midori is another popular kabuki dance.

Onna Dayu is about a women itinerant entertainer who travels around singing and dancing from door to door. She wears a straw hat, wooden sandals, cotton kimono and carries a shamisen under her arm.

Ayame Yukata is a dance that dates back to 1856 and portrays various summer scenes. A geisha carries an iris and dances to some quite lively music. Kishi no Yanagi is another dance that portrays summers scenes such as on the Sumida river and Yanagibashi bridge, associated with geishas.

Kakubei is a dance expressing the love of two street performers, Kakubei and Torioi.

Shima no Senzai (Senzai of the Island) features a female dancer dressed as a male noble. The first part is the high class style and the second part more light hearted. Urashima is a famous folk tale about a fisherman who rescues a turtle and in return earns a visit to the Palace of the Dragon.

Kitsunebi is a well known kabuki play and dance. The furious dance by Princess Yaegaki, as she is possessed by the fox spirit, is the climax of the story.

Kurama Yama and Chikuma Gawa are famous nagauta pieces, used to accompany kabuki theatre.

Cho no Michiyuki is a well known gidayu piece particularly famous for its instrumental passages, and is considered as virtuoso shamisen music.

Two famous dances. In Kanjo, the dance portrays a lady of the court remembering her past as she wanders the street selling fish, the essence of the dance being she keeps the dignity of her former life. In the dance Shizu no Odamaki, a famous dancer, Shizuka Gozen dances for a feared warrior, Minamoto no Yoritomo, although she is really dancing for his younger brother, Yoshimoto, the object of her affections.

Kokaji is a well known kabuki dance drama that mixes nagauta and gidayu accompaniment and dates back to as recently as 1939. It has both dynamic and lighter passages. Ume no Sakae (Prosperity of the Plum) is a festive song about plum blossoms. It also contains other symbols of joy with a graceful sentiment.

Hinazaru Sanbaso (Little Crane Sanbaso) is a dance performed at the start of a performance to celebrate the occasion and pray for good luck. Kimagayo Shouchikubai (The Imperial Pine, Bamboo and Plum) begins in solemn mode before moving onto a more bright melody. Pine, bamboo and plum represent joy at celebrations.

Shiki no Yamanba (Yamanba of the Four Seasons) is a dance and song about a female demon who weaves cloth in the mountains, who used to be an entertainer in the red light district. She dances to the changing of the four seasons under the disguise of going on a pilgrimage to the mountains. Gojo no Hashi is about the famous bridge in Kyoto.