Let me begin by reiterating that these recordings ARE NOT ME PLAYING. Having said that, I present to you four excellent tracks from a cd that came with a shamisen songbook I recently purchased. I must also point out that what you are about to hear is not the style of shamisen I am currently studying with Ishikawa-sensei.

What you will hear is called Niagari-choshi and is a very lively, quick, and generally up-beat style of play developed in the northern reaches of Japan. In contrast, I am learning Hon-choshi, a more traditional style that predates Niagari-choshi and is generally tuned slightly lower, played slightly slower, and accompanied by both sharp, staccato drumbeats and warbling vocalists (Niagari-choshi is generally just the shamisen).

The instrument is the same however, and once I establish myself as a competent Hon-choshi player I will “graduate” if you will to the more free-form Niagari-choshi style.

As such, the fingering skill displayed in the songs linked below is well beyond anything I can hope to play at the moment – well beyond, but not out of reach.

I hope having finally gotten a chance to listen to some shamisen music that you enjoy it as much as I do!

I will look for a cd with good recordings of Hon-choshi performances so you can hear my style of play, in the meantime though…