Gagaku and moon viewing at New Otani Hotel, Oct. 7, 2006
Topic: Gagaku

 

The New Otani Hotel in Little Tokyo presents the Cultural Fall Festival on Saturday, Oct. 7. On the night of the full moon, the hotel provides the Moon Viewing Festival tea ceremony and the 1200-year-old Gagaku music by Kinnara Gagaku Kai of Los Angeles at Japanese Garden from 7:00-8:00 p.m. Garden admission is free.

 

Program: Gagaku Kangen – Gagaku orchestral music

 

Hyojo Mode　A mode associated with Autumn

 

Etenraku ( transcending-heaven-music):  The most familiar of all Gagaku pieces, this melody has become the basis for many Japanese folksongs and popular songs.  It has come to be used in recent times as processional music in weddings.

 

Bairo:  One of eight pieces of Rinyu music brought to Japan by Fat Triet  and Bodhisena in 736 AD.  Rinyu  was a kingdom in Southeast Asia centered around the city Hue in present-day Vietnam.  It is believed that it originally was a military piece.

 

Intermission

 

Introduction to Gagaku:  Introduction and demonstration of instruments.

 

Sojo Mode  A mode associated with Spring

 

Shukoshi  (wine-barbarian -person):  This piece is categorized as Ancient Music, that is music written before the T’ang Dynasty  in China, i.e., before 618 AD.  The piece was widely played in the T’ang Dynasty court as banquet music.

 

Konju (barbarian-drinking-wine):  Another of the eight Rinyu compositions brought from Southeast Asia.  The music and dance is said to depict a barbarian getting drunk on wine and dancing.

 

The New Otani Hotel and Garden is located at 120 South Los Angeles Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012. (213) 253-9232.

 

 

University of California Irvine Robert Garfias Dinner, Nov. 3
Topic: Gagaku
The University of California Irvine, Center for Asian Studies Japan dinner is set for November 3rd, a Thursday. We will be feting Robert Garfias from Anthropology who was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun by the Japanese government last spring. This will be held in the University Club Library from 7:00-9:00 p.m.
The dinner will include a presentation by Prof. Garfias titled: My Observation of a Half Century.
General $40, member and affiliates $30, graduate students $20.

For RSVP, contact Sandra Cushman, Center for Asian Studies, UCI by email scushman@uci.edu or call (949) 824-3771.

Message from UCI Dean Dosher re: Robert Garfias

UCI anthropology professor Robert Garfias has been awarded one of Japan's oldest and highest honors, the Order of the Rising Sun, for his contributions to promoting traditional Japanese culture and cultural exchanges between Japan and the U.S.

As an ethnomusicologist, Garfias studies music as an aspect of culture. For more than 40 years, he has examined the traditional music of the Japanese Imperial Court, called Gagaku, as well as Japanese koto music and the music of Okinawa. He studied in Japan's Imperial Household Music Department and provided support for the first U.S. tour of a Gagaku ensemble in 1959. Since then, he has often assisted in presentations of Gagaku performances in the U.S. and was particularly instrumental in bringing the first Gagaku performance to the Walt Disney Concert Hall in October 2004. Garfias has also introduced Gagaku to renowned Western musicians and composers such as Igor Stravinsky and Leonard Bernstein.

"I am very excited and happy about this honor, especially because it acknowledges the importance of this very ancient tradition of court music", says Garfias. "I am also honored and a little nervous to be having an audience with the Emperor."

Garfias is one of seven people in the U.S. to receive an award. Every spring and fall, the Japanese government bestows decorations on individuals who have made distinguished contributions to Japan and to the promotion of its external relations with foreign countries. Of the 4057 receiving the honor this spring, only 34 are non-Japanese.

Typically, non-Japanese recipients receive their awards from the nearest Japanese consulate. Garfias was invited to a conferment ceremony May 20 in Tokyo and has been granted an audience with the Emperor.

Garfias teaches a wide range of courses dealing with many of the worlds musics including courses on the music of Japan and Okinawa and has taught at University of Washington, UCLA, UC Berkeley and UCI. He has conducted his field work a great number of places across the globe and speaks eight different languages, including Japanese. He is a former member of the NEA National Council on the Arts, serving for 10 years. He has recently served as a research professor for the Japanese National Museum of Ethnology and continues to do work with the museum.

Gagaku, Saturday. October 1
Topic: Gagaku
October 1, 2005

Performance - Gagaku: Music and Dance of Ancient Asia
Senshin Temple Courtyard
1311 W. 37th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90007
Cost: Suggested Donation $5, Outdoor Event
Tel: (323) 731-4617, Time: 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM

The Great Teacher K’ung Fu-Tzu [Confucius] said that, “the only really essential department of government is the Department of Music and Rites.”

In Far Eastern tradition, the purpose of art is to educate and uplift in a moral and religious way.

Music and ritual are looked upon as essential to life and not simply as another extra-curricular activity.

This ancient music survives today in Japan as Gagaku and has been preserved virtually unchanged since the 8th century.

Still performed in temples, shrines, and the Japanese Imperial Court, Gagaku is the oldest orchestral tradition in the world, evoking an atmosphere and attitude of ancient Asia.

Senshin Temple is affiliated with the Jodoshinshu school of Buddhism that has used Gagaku liturgically and as “dharma entertainment” since the 17th century.

Kinnara Gagaku was formed in 1970 at Senshin Buddhist Temple under Professor Suenobu Togi of the Japanese Imperial Household Department of Music and the UCLA Department of Ethnomusicology.