Both instruments are old and delicate. The Koto (Gakuso), with its ivory and tortoise shell inlay, originated in late 1800s; and the Biwa (Chikuzenbiwa), with its rare and precious silkscreen representation of a dragon, is vintage 1600s:
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| Koto (aka Gakuso) |
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| Biwa (aka Chikunzenbiwa) |
And here is what the Biwa sounds like:
The Morikami is located at 4000 Morikami Park Road , Delray Beach, Fl 33446, (telephone 561-495-0233). If you visit the museum, please be sure to look up our esteemed Captain Fogg. If you ask him nicely, he may even take you by boat to visit me far beyond the Gulf Stream.
Remarkable instruments. I'll bet the museum people were overjoyed at your generosity.
ReplyDeleteOn a bitterly cold, gray day with snow in the forecast, I envy you geographically. ;)
OCTO - how wonderful of you to give these rare and beautiful instruments a second chance to make lovely music again! I so enjoyed just sitting back to listen for a bit.
ReplyDeleteOcto,
ReplyDeleteYou are a gennelman and a scoller, says I. Thanks for the clips -- I love the biwa! Beautiful music. We dinosaurs really feel cheated on the whole music thing -- never had any, you know. These days, I'm a huge Haydn fan. Go figure....
I listened to one of the videos earlier this evening, the one with Michio Miyagi playing the Koto. Nameless had posted the link on Facebook. I've just gone through all of the videos, such lovely music and such fascinating instruments. There is something intriguing about how stringed instruments are similar and yet culturally distinctive depending on the country of origin.
ReplyDeleteI am certain that the museum appreciates your generosity, dear Octo. Both instruments are lovely in design.
Capt. Fogg:
ReplyDeleteHow very generous of you to gift those instruments. The biwa looks as if it's top is made out of rosewood, but I'm certainly no expert on that. It's ineresting to me how many other instruments it reminds me of, depending on how it's played. Jack White would love to get his hands on those, I'll bet.
David Nieman is a hammered dulcimer player who used to spend a big chunk of each year in Japan doing concerts and whatnot. You can find him at this link (http://www.linkedin.com/in/davidneiman). I only ever knew him as a contra dancer and musician. I had no idea that he had a day job!
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