Musical Festival Floats Of Japan (festival Ensembles In The Chita Peninsula And Aichi)

By (author) Lundström, Håkan
Short description/annotation:
Based on more than thirty years’ fieldwork, this book aims to increase the understanding of music played on elaborate wooden floats which form vital components in Japanese festivals with a religious dimension. The focus is on float-festivals in Aichi prefecture in central Japan, butinternational and national perspectives come into play as well.
Description:

Based on more than thirty years’ fieldwork, this book aims to increase the understanding of music played on elaborate wooden floats which form vital components in Japanese festivals with a religious dimension. The focus is on float-festivals in Aichi prefecture in central Japan; but wider perspectives, international as well as national, also come into play.
Float-festivals date back several centuries. A good deal of modernization has taken place from the mid-twentieth century onwards, but historical roots and connections are still discernible, and these distinctive festivals and their music remain of great significance to many communities in modern Japan.

Table of contents:

Prologue
Introduction
Float-festivals
Float-festivals in Taketoyo
Musical instruments and learning
Ensembles in Chita Peninsula
Ensembles in Nagoya and Owari
Ensembles in Mikawa and parallels in Chita
The tsuzumi drums and performing arts
The musical repertoire
A historical perspective
Change and continuity
The wider perspective
Conclusions and epilogue

Biographical note:
Håkan Lundström, Professor Emeritus of Music and Society at the Faculty of Fine and Performing Arts, Lund University
Primary cover copy:

Based on more than thirty years of fieldwork, Musical festival floats of Japan aims to increase the understanding of music played on elaborate wooden floats which form vital components in Japanese festivals with a religious dimension. The book focuses on float-festivals in Aichi prefecture in central Japan; but wider perspectives, international as well as national, also come into play.
Charged with spiritual power, the floats serve as mobile shrines with musicians riding inside them. The music they play has important functions at different stages of the festivals. The instrumental core of all ensembles is made up of drums and flutes. The composition of ensembles varies, though, as do the musicians’ degrees of experience. These days, schoolchildren – increasingly girls in what used to be an exclusively male domain – play alongside adults. Float-festivals date back several centuries. A good deal of modernization has taken place from the mid-twentieth century onwards, but historical roots and connections are still discernible, and these distinctive festivals remain of great significance to many communities in modern Japan.
Illuminating the connection between religious practices and everyday life in present-day Japan, this book contributes to an understanding of the roles of instrumental music and vocal expression in human communication.