post 6

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Klww4AerPgw&feature=related

This is a performance in Japanese Nou theatre. It was peformed at Odaiba in Tokyo. Essentially, it is a very old form of Japanese art that is very traditional. Nearly everything about Nougaku is standardized: from the gestures to the muscians, the stage, etc.

There is always a group of 4 instruments that accompanies the actors who are most likely going to be male wearing masks so they play male and female roles, called the hayashi. The hayashi has a bamboo lute, noukan, and three small drums. Even though the lute is the only instrument that actually has any sort of ability to create a melody aside from the singer, there is still quite a variety of sounds.

The idea in Nougaku is that the audience is suspended in a dream-like state. Even the theatre they sat in was part of the stage for the Nougaku. This is very true for traditional Nougaku which lasted all day. The audience members would escape to the world of Nougaku for a day. This sense of timelessness is helped by the structure of the noukan, which helps it to have a wider range and more mellow sound so the tonal center can change thus making the performance seem never-ending.

It feels like the musicians are not following any particular sort of beat. The drummers will play their rhythm with the other drummers but not necessarily in time with each other, this layering being one of the characteristics of Nougaku, while shouting kakegoe. There is a lot of communication going on between the actor(s) and the hayashi since some parts are never rehearsed or each performance is slightly different. This applies to the singing as well. The pitch the singer starts on does not matter, unless they're singing the chorus, and it doesn't follow any particular rhythm either. Those like free recitation in speech -song is called kotoba while the more melodic counterpart is called fushi. This makes the music sound like a Buddhhist chant which probably has to do with the roots of Japan's religious culture being very deeply rooted in buddhism and shintoism.

Another thing is that fully tradition Nougaku theatres are powered completely by humans. If the stage rises it's because a human was below the stage powering it and all parts of the Nougaku house had no electricity to run anything. candles are used for lighting and stage lighting as well. Nowadays, however, most Nougaku stages are more modernized for convenience sake.