Attracted by the charm of gidayu shamisen, a Canadian man has his jōruri premiere in Minamiawaji.

Attracted by the appeal of gidayu shamisen in Awaji Island, an elementary and junior high school language teaching assistant, Yeshua Ragbir, a Canadian, plays his first performance in “Cool Jōruri” on the 23^rd in Minamiawaji City, Ama Kamimachi.

Mr. Ragbir said, “I am nervous with this turning point in my life, but I definitely want to enjoy the performance.”

Mr. Ragbir who graduated from the music department of University of Toronto in Canada came to Japan last August and is in charge of teaching English at elementary and junior high schools by the Awaji City Board of Education.

He liked string instruments and was a guitarist in Canada, but he was always interested in the shamisen and Japanese music scales:

“After seeing the performance of Awaji ningyō jōruri, I was amazed by the performance of the shamisen, and through a mutual acquaintance, I have been practicing since last November under the guidance of Tomoju Tsuruzawa, a student of Tomoji Tsuruzawa, a human national treasure. I am not used to Japanese yet, and English and Japanese are mixed during practice and sometimes it is difficult to understand the nuances of the performance. But, I have practiced by memorizing the timing with my body. This time, I will play the work called “Hidakagawa Iriai Zakura: Watashiba no dan”, which adopted the Anchin Kiyohime legend set in Wakayama’s Kumano region.”

Although he says he feels uneasy after only learning shamisen for a short period of time, he said, “I hope to make good use of the idiosyncrasies of the Japanese language in the work, and I want everyone to listen to a good performance.”

Master Tomoju said, “Really, the way he practices at rehearsal is wonderful. I want him to work hard on the production as well.”

“Cool Jōruri” opens at 4pm. Rakugo is also done from 6 pm. Free entrance.

Link: https://www.sankei.com/region/news/160723/rgn1607230041-n1.html