August 16, 2012 / Culture / Konstantin Volkov / Izvestia
Shinto music will be performed in Novosibirsk
A local philharmonic society is interested in the joint reading of ancient magical ceremony.
<A photograph of Satoko Ishize>
A Japanese composer, Satoko Ishize and the Novosibirsk State Philharmonic Society announced the beginning of cooperation. The compositions of Ishize san will be performed by the Russian Academic Orchestra of Novosibirsk Philharmonic Society.
Using traditions of religious music in contemporary art is no so rare, but Ishize went her own way. She uses in her works the instruments of Shinto shrine music, which dates back from primitive magical ceremonies.
“My compositions are in many cases based upon the melodics of one of the most important shinto ceremonies, Mitama utsushi, or ‘transportation of God’ ”, said Ishize san to “Izvestia”. “Once a year the priests take out from shrine the ark, in which a local spirit or god resides. (Shinto is a polytheism to worship gods of nature and the spirits of ancestors: Izvestia) During the process of transportation participants sing a sound, while raising and lowering its pitch. Such a movement works perfectly in contemporary music.
Ishize san comes from a family of hereditary priests and samurai. She herself participated in ceremonies and turned out to be one of the few who use Shinto music movement in her own compositions. She graduated from the Manhattan School of Music in the US, where she studied orchestral music. After that she decided to mingle Japanese traditions with the Western classics and contemporary rhythms.
“In many of my compositions you hear the sound of Norito in the back. Norito is a prayerful melody with rising pitch.”, said the composer. “This gives secrecy and a bit of meditativeness.”
However, if you use only the Shinto singing, it will be rather monotonous. Therefore Ishize also uses Gagaku, which is more sacred medieval Japanese music.
“Realizing a concert with specific types of instruments, which are used in Gagaku, is of course difficult. Well, are there a lot of people in Russia, who play, say, the lip organ ‘Sho’ or the Japanese flute ‘Ryuteki’? Therefore you have to use usual classical instruments to tune to specifics of Gagaku.”, explains the author.
By the way here you see a special difficulty for Novosibirsk Orchestra. They will have to derive from string and wind instruments such sounds that are not familiar to the Western music.
When commented that there may be more people in Japan than in any other countries who value the compositions based upon Japanese traditions, Ishize san replied that in her home country it was difficult to pursue music.
“People around me constantly admonished me that I should better think about a serious career, work in a big company, or get married and sit at home. However, I wanted to pursue music. Therefore I went to New York. This is a very musical city and you can work in your own style. It is different from Japan, where sticking out from the mass is not appreciated.”, told the interviewee of Izvestia.
The composer thinks that it will take the Russian academic orchestra roughly half a year to rehearse the unusual music. The Japanese art festival, where the compositions of Satoko Ishize will be performed, will be held in Novosibirsk in Summer 2013.
