Reflections On Our Journey
The residency with Suzuki sensei is now over. Here we reflect on our enriching experience....
Edo Matsuri Bayashi, or Edo Bayashi for short, refers to the 300 year old traditional festival music of historic Tokyo. “Edo” is the name for Tokyo under rule of the Tokugawa Shogunate (1603 – 1868), “Matsuri” translates to festival and “Bayashi” refers to a musical ensemble. With its complex interlocking rhythms and festive quality, Edo Bayashi helps to inform much of the cultural and aesthetic foundation behind North American taiko.
Over a three month period, Ho Etsu studied this rich musical heritage and, with the help of our friend and mentor Eien Hunter-Ishikawa, we learned the basic Edo Bayashi repertoire. This effort culminated in a 6-day residency with the acclaimed master of the tradition, Kyosuke Suzuki.
Throughout the process, we recorded our progress, thoughts and insights here in this blog. We invite you to follow our journey!
The residency with Suzuki sensei is now over. Here we reflect on our enriching experience....
We’re just a day away from Suzuki-sensei’s arrival - the culmination of our journey!...
Festival Music is For The Festival: Finding the meaning and joy of Edo Bayashi...
Interview: Sue Kanagawa Yuen who started her Edo Bayashi journey 22 years ago ...
We are at the halfway point in our preparation before Suzuki-sensei comes to Chicago!...
To learn Edo Bayashi we had to change our approach to learning taiko music....
Our very first challenge was to translate the Edo Bayashi sheet music....
Follow our journey to learn Edo Matsuri Bayashi, traditional Tokyo festival music....