Cicala Mvta – Ching Don: The Return Of Japanese Street Music
December 19th, 2010 § 1 Comment
What originally started as popular street marketing technique has blossomed into some of the most vital music coming out of Japan today. Chindon’ya originated in turn of the century Osaka as sing-song street performers hawked goods through songs in public markets. The rise of the military in Japan during the 20s & 30s popularized the concept of the marching band and the bands grew in complexity and showmanship, until during the Golden Age of the 1950s where 18 piece marching bands in outlandish costumes.
It’s this model that bandleader Wataru Okhuma used to form Cicala Mvta, whose name is sourced from the epitaph of well-known street singer Soeda Azembo (1872-1944). The quote is “The mute cicada that sang and his wife who loved him.”
When Western military music was imported via American soldiers after WWII they brought the invention of brass. Therefore we have a blend of Japanese and Western instruments – gongs with sax, woodwinds with junanagen.
Cicala Mvta blends a selection of folk music from around the world – traditional Japanese kabuki melodies with Klezmer, and Nepalese folk. Brecht becomes blues before swinging around to avant-garde jazz.
