Splendor of Japan’s Imperial, Folk Traditions Comes Alive

Juxtaposing the austere, ceremonial music and dance of the 12th century imperial Japanese court with samples of the vigorous folk culture that still flourishes in Japan, a program sponsored by the Tenrikyo Ikoma Grand Church of Nara not only exemplified contrast but highlighted the contrasts within each form.

At the Japan America Theatre on Friday, you could hear high, scampering flute music accented with forceful attacks on bass drums in the antique, courtly Gagaku and Bugaku selections by the Ikoma Gagaku Music Society and also in the dynamic folk-based taiko performance by the Japanese-American Yoki Daiko ensemble. Similarly, the use of sticks pointed in the air versus body weight driven into the floor united these two separate traditions--one forbidden to the general public until 1873, the other the property of the masses until academics and foreigners championed it midway through this century.

The evening began with Kangen (wind and string-dominated) selections played by 17 Ikoma Gagaku musicians seated on a raised platform: a performance space framed by low wood railings and backed by a striped wall hanging ornamented with crests depicting the five-petaled Chinese bell-flower. Here the shimmering overtones of the sho served as sonic complement to the unearthly wail of the hichiriki and ryuteki: bamboo wind instruments with the blare of brass.

Later, the musicians moved outside the platform for the gorgeously costumed Bugaku dances: as radically formalized as the flower crests, whether deploying four children to suggest the fluttering of birds (“Karyobin”); two masked women to evoke the interaction of dragons (“Nasori”); or a single masked male soloist, Nobuyuki Yabushita, to portray a celebrated warrior-king (“Ranryo-O”).

Composed by David Shiwota, Keji Uesugi and Sakuya Ueno, the Yoki Daiko repertory emphasized every kind of drumming from intricate, multilayered filigree to overpowering galvanic assaults that you could feel as well as hear. An evening of impressive power and splendor, made more accessible by extensive explanations and illustrations in the free program booklets.