SHICHISEIKAI + INDIAN MUSIC PROJECT
PeriodJune and July in any year
Venue
Concert Hall, Church, Cultural space etc.
Performers
The Shichiseikai(nine members): Shomyo and Gagaku instruments, Sitar player, Tabla player, two Tambura players, HIROS: Bansuri
Minimum Numbers of Performers:11Sound engineer:1
Performance time
2 hours
Example time division of the performance
Shomyo <40 minutes>、Intermission <10 minutes>, Hindustani music on Sitar or Bansuri <40 minutes>、Shomyo+Indian music <30 minutes>
AV Reference
Shomyo Genryu(CD), Video(NTSC & PAL)
If any organizer request, we are ready to send them.
The aim of the project
The origin of the two performing arts, Shomyo Buddhist Chanting and Indian Classical Music, can be traced to the Veda chanting tradition of ancient India. There is a very strong relationship between the Veda tradition and Japanese Buddhist chanting.
In the earliest Vedic chanting only one or two different notes were used. Brahmin monks developed this chanting style using only one or two notes early on into a musical form using seven notes.
Indian Classical music can be thought of as developing, in part, out of this early Vedic chanting. And it became an independent modern musical form influenced by secular music. It can be found in the Natya Shastra, 2nd century A.D. by Bharata, one can find reference to a musical form that was derived from the earlier Vedic chanting. In the fifth century A.D. the concept of Raga appeared. In reading the Sangeet Ratnakara we discover that by the thirteenth century A.D. the form of our contemporary music, the Raga-Tala system, had already been established. From the tenth century A.D. on the Muslims began establishing their influence in India. One of the results of this Muslim presence in India was the metamorphosis of classical Indian music into Muslim Court Music. At the same time, as a result of this metamorphosis, there was also a flowering and sophistication of the Indian classical music. And this remains the classical Indian music of today.
In listening to the Japanese Shomyo form of today we can hear the influence, the remnants, of the Ancient Vedic tradition. This connection depends on the fact that they are both a reading of the Sutras with a melody. This reflects the fact that the chanting itself leads naturally to a musicality. The musical accompaniment that colored the chanting of the Sutras was remonstrated by the priests when the message of the Sutra was lost to the music. We know this is the case from the content of some of the earlier Sutras. This is evidence that the chanted Sutra is basically musical.
Buddhism, along with its way of chanting Sutras, flowed into China from India by a multitude of routes. As the Sutras were translated into Chinese it is reasonable to assume that the way of chanting, as well as the melody, was modified.
The Shomyo, modified Indian Sutras, were introduced into Japan and further adapted to the Japanese musical aesthetic. Counter to this was the order from the Japanese Emperor, 720, to follow exactly the Chinese way of chanting the Sutras. Thus, we have proof here that the Japanese priests were altering the original Sutras.
Present day Shomyo followed a path from Shingon and Tendai, eighth and ninth century A.D.. The Shomyo of Shichiseikai, the monks of the Jodo sect, follows the Tendai tradition because the Jodo sect of Buddhism branched off from the Tendai sect. The Shomyo of the Shichiseikai sect are mostly from the Tendai tradition, although having their own unique characteristic. This characteristic can be easily appreciated by ordinary people, differing, as it does, from the exclusivity of the rest of the sects in the Tendai tradition.
The above talks about the journey of Shomyo and Indian Classical Music from their beginnings in Vedic Chanting to modern Japanese Shomyo and modern Indian Classical Music. They appear to be different from one another. One is practiced by the Japanese Bhuddhist monks, the other by professional musicians. In spite of the large distance between country and musical form one can find an underlying connection in the Shomyo and Indian Classical music.
Our purpose in this project is to bring together in India these two forms of music, Shomyo and Indian Classical music, in their birthplace in order to show new possibilities in the way of musical expression. Hopefully, this will encourage a cultural exchange between our two countries.
Performers
<The Shichisekai>
This group of nine Buddhist monks is actively involved in researching the ceremonies, rituals, and shomyo (Buddhist sutra chanting) of the Jodo sect of Buddhism at ChioninTemple, the sect's headquarters. Shichiseikai has appeared as part of Xebec Hall's (Kobe) Asian Performing Arts Series: "The Sound of Buddhist Mantra and the Music of India", and has performed International Psycho-oncology Convention in Kobe in a program that also included Indian classical music. Funding by Japan Foundation when they made the UK tour in 2000, they were appreciated by British audience not only in London but also other places there. They are to be invited to UK in 2002, too.
Despite having only seven members, the group's voices resonate in beautiful unison to create a rich variety of harmonic overtones. While on the one hand carrying on the tradition of shomyo, the group has also succeeded in creating a new form of music through the application of shomyo's unique notions of the male voice and chorus. Shichisekai includes; HASHIMOTO Chishi (Seirenji Temple, Nagoya), IKEGAMI Ryoken (Koshoji Temple, Kyoto), IKEGAMI Ryosho(Zendoji Temple, Osaka), WADA Bungo (Kanonji Temple, Mie), ITO Shinjo (Hounji Temple, Kyoto), SHIMIZU Shuko (Horakuji Temple, Osaka) , YAO Kyoshun (Zenpukuji Temple, Kyoto), NAGATA Shinko(Tenpukuji Temple, Fukuoka) and is led by MINAMI Chushin (Daikoji Temple, Kyoto). Also Shichiseikai include NAKAGAWA Hiroshi as a managing stuff.【NAKAGAWA Hiroshi (=HIROS)】
Specialties ; Production and Organizing Asian performing arts, Theory of Indian Music, Composing, Performing bansuri (Indian bamboo flute)
He was born in Yamagata, Japan in 1950. He has studied the theory of Indian music in the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) in north India from 1981 to 1984. Besides as the student of the university he has learned vocal from a Dhrupad singer Mr. Ritwik Sannyal and bansuri (Indian flute) from Mr.Gorakhnath Das. After coming back to Japan he started to perform as a bansuri player. Since 1988, he has been studying bansuri under the guidance of the world renowned bansuri player Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia. He has been active not only as a matured performer but also as an organizer of Asian music programs in Japan as the director of 'TENGAKU PLANNING OFFICE'.
Inquiry:TENGAKU PLANNING OFFICE
3-2-6-1-705, PORT ISLAND, KOBE 650-0046
PHONE &FAX.+81-78-302-4040
hirosnaka@yahoo.co.jp
