An evening of Heian music and moon viewing, Sept. 26, 2007
Kinnara Gagaku Kai performs traditional court music Gagaku at the New Otani Hotel’s garden. The scene of the musicians and instruments are reflecting on the water of the garden. (Cultural News Photo)
New Otani Hotel in Los Angeles presents “An Evening of Heian Music and Moon Viewing” at it’s the Japanese Garden on Wednesday, September 26 from 8:00 – 9:00 p.m. Admissions are $5 including one drink. For reservation, call the hotel at (213) 253-9200.
On the night of the full moon, the local Kinnara Gagaku Kai will perform the Gagaku music, traditional court music dating back the Heian period 1,200 years ago in Kyoto, Japan.
Gagaku or “elegant music” is the oldest continuously performed orchestral music and dance in the world. It represents the ancient music of Asia, with elements from south, central, southeast and east Asia and is preserved by the Imperial Household and a number of Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines in Japan.
One of the many classifications of the Gagaku repertoire is the two categories of Ancient Music and New Music. Ancient Music refers to music composed before the T’ang Dynasty or, more specifically, before 754 A.D. of the reign of he Emperor Hsuan Tsung. It also includes Japanese compositions in that style. New Music refers to music composed after 754 A.D. until roughly the end (1185 A.D.) of the Heian period in Japan.
Program Etenraku - transcending-heaven-music: The piece exists in three modes; Hyojo, Banshikicho, and Oshikicho. The piece in Hyojo mode is the most familiar of all Gagaku pieces. This melody has become the basis for many Japanese Christian hymns, Buddhist gathas, and folksongs such as Kuroda Bushi. It has come to be used in recent times as processional music in weddings. The piece will be played is in the less-often heard Banshikicho mode which evokes the mood of fall and winter.
Senshuraku - thousand-autumns-music: A piece ordered by the Japanese Emperor Gosanjo (reigned 1068-1072 A.D.). It was written by Minamoto Yoriyoshi. In Buddhist ceremonies, Senshuraku was the piece played at the end of a ceremony, and at Imperial funerals. Later in Kabuki and Sumo performances, the last day of the performance was called Senshuraku. The term Senshuraku thus came to be used in Japanese as a euphemism for the close, the end, or finish of an activity.
Bato: Taishikichō mode, Ancient Music. One of the eight pieces brought to Japan from what is today Vietnam. A dance by a single dancer in Ryōtō costume. The masked dancer represents a man whose father was slain by a fierce animal. He enters the mountains, slays the animal, and joyfully returns down the mountain road. The dance depicts his joyful return. The dance is said to have come from Burma, brought to Japan by the Indian Buddhist monk Bodhisena. Here the music portion is presented.
Intermission
Bugaku - Bugaku is the dance portion of Gagaku. Only brief bits and pieces about the dances have been preserved, especially in regards to the older dances. In most of the older dances, the exact meaning of the dances, their costumes, gestures, and dance movements have been lost with only the sketchiest of explanations remaining.
Narori - Ichikotsuchō mode. A dance with one or two masked dancers in Ryōtō costume. It is in two movements, ha and kyū. The dance depicts a dragon or pair of dragons dancing playfully. Little is known of the origins of this dance other than its placement among dances from the area of the kingdoms of Korea and Manchuria. It is nevertheless, one of the most widely known pieces of the Bugaku dance repertoire. It is danced on celebratory occasions.
Japanese Music by William P. Malm
Much of the pleasure of Gagaku is in its rare archaic flavor. To those who are accustomed to the dynamic drive of Western symphonic music the static beauty of Gagaku may seem very strange.
In the West, music has been defined in terms of aural form in motion, but in Gagaku both the formal and progressive elements have been minimized, leaving only the beauty of sound, the exotic creature in a slightly clouded drop of amber. One can find a similar musical phenomenon only in the court Gamelan music of Java.
Perhaps if Gagaku took fuller advantage of the tonal possibilities at its command or moved with a less predict- able tonal and formal structure, it would gain flexibility only to lose its really outstanding value in world music culture.
Listening to Gagaku is a history lesson in sound and trans-migration back into the soul of the Heian courtier. As it stands it is a shadow of its former self and yet it is still one of the clearest adumbrations left of the grandeur and artistic taste of the court of ancient Japan.