lecture & Demonstration

Portable Playable Paper Shamisen
Flying the World

date & time

tuesday, september 10, 2024
7PM-8:20PM

admission is free, registration is required

Click here to Register

The shamisen is a traditional Japanese instrument which has a storied history but continues to evolve...even today!
Join us for a talk and demonstration featuring Takuya Hamatani, a shamisen master from Japan and bold creator of the lightweight, paper-constructed, portable, and cost-effective shamisen called "Shabo". 
In this program, Hamatani will explain the playing styles, construction, and types of traditional shamisen as well as their stylistic differences, and then he will introduce his unique creation called the "Shabo", a smaller-scale shamisen made from paper (yes, paper!). 
You will learn about the history of the Shabo's development, the mechanisms and construction of paper shamisen, and Hamatani's shabo advocacy efforts, popularization activities, and reactions to the Shabo both in Japan and overseas.
The evening will also feature live paper-shamisen performance and even a live collaboration with American Tsugaru shamisen player Mike Penny.

*Following the demonstration, paper shamisen will be available for purchase directly from Mr. Hamatani.
 

Lecturer & performer:

Takuya Hamatani
Based in Toyama, Japan, Takuya Hamatani is the owner of the Shamisen Rakuya shamisen shop, and is a Fujimoto School Folk Song Shamisen Master. In addition to offering shamisen classes, sales, repairs, and performances, Hamatani plays all kinds of shamisen, from Okinawan sanshin to Tsugaru shamisen. Shabo, the affordable, cardboard mini-shamisen Hamatani created, is becoming increasingly popular globally as he continues, through his global outreach efforts, to spread the joy of Japanese musical instruments from Toyama to the world regardless of generation or genre. The slogan is "Make Shamisen more fun! More freedom!”
https://shami1000rakuya.com
www.itonejapan.com

performer:

Mike Penny
Mike Penny has received numerous awards for his innovative compositions and performances using the Tsugaru Shamisen. In 2007, he received the Japan Foundation’s Uchida Fellowship, which allowed him to study the instrument in Japan with Tokyo’s highly respected Tsugaru shamisen sensei Fukushi Toyoaki. Mike has given hundreds of public performances and continues to perform regularly as a solo artist and in various groups. He has become known through his many viral video performances on YouTube, and has gained a following for his unprecedented style of shamisen playing which combines traditional and extended techniques in a variety of musical contexts including jazz, Balkan folk, Western classical, and popular music in a fusion of both east and west, past and future.  He is fluent in Japanese. 
https://themikepennyorchestra.bandcamp.com