The World of Tsuzumi

Nagauta (literally “long song”) is a classical Japanese shamisen-and-voice genre that developed as the principal lyrical music for Kabuki dance (shosagoto). It features a lead singer (uta), multiple shamisens in rich unison/heterophony, and a Kabuki hayashi ensemble of flute (fue) and drums (kotsuzumi, otsuzumi, and occasionally taiko). Musically, nagauta draws on Edo-period aesthetics: flexible rhythm, careful use of silence (ma), and modal colors associated with the in/yo (miyako-bushi) modes. It can be highly pictorial, cueing stage action with instrumental passages, shouts (kakegoe) from drummers, and timbral effects. While deeply theatrical, nagauta also exists as a concert tradition performed independently of the stage.