Sukiyaki And Chips: Japanese Sounds Of Music

Beats Of the Heart

Japanese culture-especially the popular music scene-can be surprising, often disorienting crazy quilt of austere, ancient traditions, futuristic experimental music and crass, glitzy pop. Adding to the mix is the fervent embrace by Japan of such foreign music styles as rock, blues, jazz, and even country music, not merely as fans but as tenacious practitioners. Sukiyaki and Chips is a giddy kaleidoscope of the Japanese music scene. It moves from the goofy, super-heated world of the teenyboppers to the austere, highly disciplined world of a master shakuhachi (traditional flute) player and Zen adept. Along the way stops are made in the last remaining old-line music hall variety shows, traditional Noh Theatre performances and new style erotic theatre, as well as with noted progressive composer Ryuichi Sakamoto. Encapsulating the seeming contradictions of the contemporary music scene is a Japanese researcher who claims to have demonstrated that Japanese hear music with a different side of their brain than Westerners. This is the perfect introduction to a diverse, often misunderstood musical culture.