Klarinet Archive - Posting 000082.txt from 1997/11

From: avrahm galper <agalper@-----.com>
Subj: More of the Japan tour
Date: Tue, 4 Nov 1997 12:53:16 -0500

Japan tour

Prior to travelling to Japan, the Toronto Symphony had as guest artists
two players of Japanese instruments. One was a Shakuhachi and the other
a Biwa.(pronounced Beewah) Like a triangular banjo.
The work we played was going to be played in Japan also. I think the
composer was Toru Takamitsu.
When we first heard the sounds of the Shakuhachi ,actually, the way the
artist played it, we couldn't restrain ourselves from snickering..

The way he played with sudden bursts of air and sounds you wouldn't
believe it..
But gradually we got used to the sounds and realized that this player
was an artist on the shakuhachi.
His name was Yamamoto. His playing could conjure any kind of story.

The other instrument, the Biwa. It had a twangy sound. It sounded as if
someone was just wacking the instrument. Not a tune to remember. Not
that I remember any Shakuhachi tune either.

The Biwa player, a lady, was apparently a very wealthy woman. Steel
mills and the like.
Before we came to Tokyo, she had a second story built onto her house to
entertain orchestra and guests.
Before entering her house, we were entertained in a park that was
adjacent to her house. She arranged to have this small park closed off
and there was a stage with all kinds of entertainment. Geisha girls
singing, all kinds of vaudeville acts.
One of the entertainers was an expert in paper cutting. He would fold a
sheet many times and then proceed cutting. When the cutting was
finished, he would open up the sheet and there would be a figure of
something or other.
How he could do all that, with the song and dance (don't remember the
songs) he was always on the move. One of the things he produced was the
image and figure of Ozawa conducting

When that was over, we were all invited up to the second floor of the
Biwa player.When you go into a Japanese house, you take off your shoes.
There were hundreds of shoes there. No receipts for them either.
I was one of the first ones to enter. Near the door there was a table
with food. Being hungry (after the concert, remember?) I saw some
things that were red. I put one in my mouth and chewed it and thought,
"I wonder why they like this".
Then of course to the rest of the food, drinks (I'm not much of that).
When the time came to go back to the hotel, I noticed that the dish that
had those "red things" was there with empty shells.
It was shrimp. I never ate shrimp before and didn't know that you had to
take out of its shell.
It was quite an evening!

And one two-no one lost a shoe!

Avrahm Galper