Noh + Noise = Nohise

17 Nov 2005 Category: Events & Exhibitions, Japan, Music

Saturday, November 12, I went to see “Willi-yama-untain (Williamountain), vol.3 Noh + Noise = Nohise” at “enban” in Koenji.

Kotaro William Tokuhisa from “Noise Gasshoudan (Noise choir)” (whose aim is to create various sounds just by using his voice) and Jinya Imai who leads Megalo Theater come together and show us a collaboration between the traditional performance art of Noh and Noise (Noh + Noise = Nohise).

Mixing one of most famous Noh plays Izutsu with a new theme, “Tokyo and water,” they succeeded to transform a traditional play into a more casual and easy to understand performance. Very inspiring!

Not so far from Koenji station, you’ll find a small restaurant along with the street. If you walk up a narrow flights of stairs side of the restaurant, enban(cafe, cd shop and event space) awaits you.

Noise Gasshouan appeared on the stage, and each member started reading “water-related” text aloud. Then gradually, one person joined another, which created a kind of voice collage. That was just the beginning. Jinya Imai rang a tiny bell, and the village woman from Izutsu (acted by Makiko Sakurai) rose to the stage. She dressed herself up in a male kimono and peered down a water well (in order to fantasize about her lover Ariwara no Narihira), she slipped ahead in time to 20th century Tokyo, probably WWI to WWII era. Noise Gasshoudan improvised bombing sounds and other war related noises with commendable authenticity. At points they even explained story in English.

The performance just flew by. Until this performance, I imagined “Noh” and “Noise” was like “Water” and “Oil,” and they wouldn’t get along. Seeing this bold challenge to combine these opposite ends of the performance spectrum inspired me as a creator to express myself more. Great show!

Written by Nakazawa Shinsuke

no picture from performance, sorry! But you can enjoy Nakazawa's profile instead.
no picture from performance, sorry! But you can enjoy Nakazawa's profile instead.

10 Comments

  1. Interesting article!!! Noise and Noh are two areas that I’ve been interested in for a long while - this would’ve been a fascinating and inspiring event. Thanks for the article.

    Posted by: Angus Rofe on October 1st, 2006 at 2:31 am

  2. Forex

    Posted by: forex on September 1st, 2010 at 12:41 am

  3. Another participatory exhibits. Choosing one photo from here, you have to find same image from the hundreds of pictures on the wall. So, which country is your picture from? You can use　binocle.

    Posted by: konteyner on December 24th, 2010 at 8:18 am

  4. started to open bottles of champagnes with award winning film makers Traktor as very special guest at the venue

    Posted by: perdeci on December 25th, 2010 at 7:00 am

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  7. Good Aritcle.

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  9. Noh + Noise = Nohise good post194

    Posted by: air multiplier on April 20th, 2012 at 3:44 pm

  10. Noh + Noise = Nohise good post1648

    Posted by: bladeless fan on April 21st, 2012 at 5:02 pm

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