Yumiko Tanaka is a gidayu shamisen player active in the fields of contemporary classical and improvised music as well as traditional Japanese music. Tanaka performed as a musician and actress in Hashirigaki (premiered in 2000), a music theater production by German composer/director Heiner Goebbels; and created the music for and performed in Dogugaeshi (premiered in 2004), an object theater work by American puppeteer Basil Twist. Based on these experiences, in December 2010 she created, produced and performed in the multidisciplinary theater production “Music Performance Tayutauta.” This DVD contains “Music Performance KIYOH,” the edited video of that 2010 production of “Music Performance Tayutauta.”
This work “is an endeavor to detach from the traditional performing arts context gidayu bushi [narrative recitation accompanied by shamisen] and gidayu shamisen, which began in the Edo period as music for ningyo joruri [traditional puppet theater] and also developed as kabuki music and narration, and to recreate the worlds of these stories as contemporary multimedia performance through collaboration with creators from fields including electronics, dance, puppet theatre, video and lighting.” It is an extremely ambitious work born of Tanaka’s wide-ranging activities and experience, and her outstanding performance and production skills. In addition to Tanaka, Yukio Suzuki (dance), Otomo Yoshihide (electric guitar) and Seiichi Yamamoto (electric guitar) appear in some segments. Kyo Ichinose served as music director and created the electronic sound.
In addition to the the central work, “Music Performance KIYOH,” this DVD includes five bonus videos: two solo performances by Yumiko Tanaka (electric taisho-goto, shaminome 2, voice / electric taisho-goto, shamisen, voice); a duo by Keiji Haino (percussion, voice) and Tanaka (shamisen, voice); a duo by Kazuhisa Uchihashi (guitar) and Tanaka (shamisen, voice); and a trio by Seiichi Yamamoto (guitar), Tanaka (shamisen) and Yukio Suzuki (dance).