Tsugaru shamisen concert by Keisho Ono

On June 4th, a concert by Tsugaru shamisen player Keisho Ono was held at the Japan Information and Cultural Centre. Mr. Ono has been performing all over the world every year with the motto "to protect traditional music while breaking traditional music". In addition to famous pieces of Tsugaru shamisen famous pieces such as "Tsugaru jyonkara bushi" and "Yasaburou bushi", the original tune "Kagerou" based on the image of the samurai, and "Iwaki", which expresses spring, summer, autumn and winter of the mountain representative in Tsugaru region, Mr. Ono played eight songs and fascinated the audience with the powerful and sometimes emotional tone of Tsugaru shamisen. During the performance, Mr. Ono explained the history, types and structure of the shamisen showing photographs. In addition, he answered questions from the audience during a Q & A session, explaining the music scores of the shamisen and his collaboration with other instruments and other musical genres such as rock, etc. It was a valuable opportunity for the audience to know well about a traditional Japanese musical instrument, the shamisen, while enjoying a performance.