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Shin’ichi Kinoshita
Shin’ichi Kinoshita is considered the best in a new generation of players of Japan’s Tsugaru-shamisen, an instrument akin to a three-string banjo. At 39 years old he is considered a pioneer in shamisen-playing. That’s thanks to his marriage of centuries-old rhythms to to jazz and rock. Since releasing two albums simultaneously in 2001, Kinoshita has established himself in Japan and beyond, where he has earned the nickname of the man with “divine hands”. It takes little time to fall under the vibrant charm of the man that the British publication Songlines dubbed “a frontrunner of Japanese folk-rock fusion and other genre-bending explorations”. At a November 2004 showcase he bandied his shamisen with irreverent and blinding energy, slickly accompanied by Hiroshi Motofuji on wadaiko percussions. Bedecked in a purple outfit worthy of Austin Power, Kinoshita sizzled through his set with a panache that was concentrated mainly on his whirling hands. Throughout the concert he remained pokerfaced and concentrated on the powerful beats created by Motofuji.
The shamisen he is devoted to first arrived in the northern Japanese region of Tsugaru about 500 years ago. At the time, this Chinese import was mainly played by blind street minstrels who went from door to door begging for alms. It is the poorer cousin of the traditional shamisen, but has a thicker neck and a much bigger plectrum. Today, its earthy, almost jazzy sounds are starting to gain ground amongst Japan’s youth.
And, undoubtedly, Kinoshita has had something to do with that. He began by aping his parents’ playing of the shamisen at the age of ten. His father was a tough taskmaster and within seven years young Shin’ichi had became one of the top players of this snakeskin-covered instrument. By the time he was 22, Kinoshita had won two successive nationwide tournaments in this discipline. Soon after, he began exploring what was later to be dubbed Tsugaru Fusion. This is an osmosis between Western and Japanese instruments which allows the rich variety of shamisen string timbres to express itself.
In 1993, the Japanese virtuoso started up his Kinoshita Shin’ichi Group bringing together his shamisen and the percussions, keyboard, electric guitar and wadaiko drum. Eight years later he brought out “Den - King of Tsugaru” and “Kai - Tsugaru Fusion”. Both albums showed an impressive range of traditional and avant-garde compositions. The latter were undoubtedly influenced by Kinoshita’s Nineties collaborations with the likes of American jazz legend Elvin Jones, guitarist Kazumi Watanabe, and Roby Lakatos, the Hungarian Rom jazz player.
Yet, despite his fascination for planetary music cultures Kinoshita insists on the importance of maintaining the timeless Tsugaru-shamisen traditions. « The original players of the shamisen, » he explained in a November 2004 interview with the author, “were appreciated for the deeply spiritual and exalted street performances. Beggars and blind storytellers would captivate people of all classes. They could drive crowds into a frenzy with their playing.”
Even in those early days, shamisen-playing was known for its audacious improvisations and exchanges. Thus, Kinoshita has merely prolonged a rich Japanese tradition and given it new modern values with recordings like his introspective 2003 CD, “King of Tsugaru, vol.2”. With performances in around 30 countries, the man - who is as self-effacing offstage is he is brash and energetic on – is set to conquer a global audience with Japanese folk music that has a true, salt-of-the-earth quality.
December 2004.
Daniel Brown
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