Matt A Gillan | International Christian University (original) (raw)
Books by Matt A Gillan
In Takao Katsuragi and John C. Maher (eds.) Minority Language Revitalization - Contemporary Appro... more In Takao Katsuragi and John C. Maher (eds.) Minority Language Revitalization - Contemporary Approaches, Tokyo: Sangensha, pp. 236-268.
Papers by Matt A Gillan
一音成仏 Itton Jōbutsu No. 49/50, 2020
二〇世紀前半の北米社会における尺八・仏教・前衛音楽 玉田如萍の活動を中心に The shakuhachi, Buddhism, and the avant-garde in early 20th... more 二〇世紀前半の北米社会における尺八・仏教・前衛音楽 玉田如萍の活動を中心に
The shakuhachi, Buddhism, and the avant-garde in early 20th-century American society - a study of the activities of Tamada Nyohyō
Yale Journal of Music and Religion, 2021
The early 20th century was a period in which understandings of music, religion, and the nation-st... more The early 20th century was a period in which understandings of music, religion, and the nation-state underwent rapid change in Japan. In this article I examine Japanese cultural discourse from the first decades of the 20th century in which the shakuhachi, a Japanese bamboo flute, was frequently portrayed as a religious instrument. In some cases, this discourse referenced pre-20th century historical affiliations of the shakuhachi with the Fuke-sect, an organization that was loosely affiliated to Rinzai Zen Buddhism. But the article also explores how religio-musical discourse surrounding the shakuhachi intersected with developments in modern Japanese religious life, as well as pre-WWII developments in the political life of Japan and Asia. Drawing primarily on articles from Sankyoku, one of the most important music magazines in early 20th century Japan, I show how public discourse contained in the media and other forms of writing is an important way to understand the rapid developments taking place in music and religion in Japan at this time.
Shima: The International Journal of Research into Island Cultures, Oct 2, 2017
Okinawa has one of Japan's most thriving traditional music cultures, and songs are an important w... more Okinawa has one of Japan's most thriving traditional music cultures, and songs are an important way that Okinawans understand and construct their island community. Most Okinawan songs have strong regional connections within Okinawa, either through lyrics that sing of local topography, events, or people, or because the melody is believed to have originated in a particular village. From the mid-20th Century on, many villages began constructing 'song monuments' (Japanese kahi) commemorating songs, composers, or lyrics, in order to create a tangible focus for what was essentially an intangible cultural entity. These monuments usually involve a substantial financial investment, either from local government or private donations, and are often placed in prominent spatial positions within the village. These song monuments are extremely popular among Okinawan music aficionados, and several guidebooks have been published to guide people to these sites. In recent years, bus tours have been organised to transport groups of aficionados en masse to these sites, and since 2015, a Facebook page has enabled the sharing of photographs and information relating to song monuments. The song monument phenomenon is particularly interesting for the way that it acts as a site for the simultaneous construction of connections between sound (the songs that performers sing), geographical space (the locations to which songs are connected) and community (the interpersonal links that are formed as people engage with song monuments). In this article I draw on my own experience visiting song monuments as part of the Okinawan music community, in order to analyse their social importance in modern Okinawa. I consider the song monument phenomenon in the context of domestic tourism, as well as a widespread culture of pilgrimage in Japan. [Note all translations of Japanese phrases in this article are the author's.]
Japan’s southernmost prefecture of Okinawa has a thriving traditional music culture that has beco... more Japan’s southernmost prefecture of Okinawa has a thriving traditional music culture that has become popular throughout the country, and has also become the basis for a more modern Okinawan pop music scene. Most Okinawan musical genres strongly emphasize vocal technique – vocal timbre, inflection and ornamentation are all singled out as being cultural markers that differentiate Okinawan genres from each other and from the vocal music of the Japanese mainland. Vocal techniques have long been theorized and mediated through both written and verbal aesthetic discourses, and the voice continues to be a way that regional identities, lineage affiliations and other aspects of Okinawan society are negotiated. In this article I draw on fifteen years as a researcher and performer of Okinawan folk and classical vocal traditions, as well as recent recorded interviews with performers and music producers, to analyse how these discourses function, and how they have interacted with changes in performance practice since the early twentieth century.
Asian Music, 2018
The Ryukyuan kumiudui musical theater uses a variety of codified vocal techniques to identify the... more The Ryukyuan kumiudui musical theater uses a variety of codified vocal techniques to identify the gender and social class of each character. Degrees of musicality, variation in timbre, and pitch inflection are all understood as emblematic of particular character types. In this article I analyze these vocal techniques and consider the ways in which they are constructed within Ryukyuan society with reference to the Ryukyuan language, class system, and gender relationships. I compare kumiudui vocal culture with other world theater traditions and argue that many parallels exist in how vocal identities are constructed.
Abstract:
琉球の古典演劇である組踊では、登場人物のジェンダー、身分などを区別するため に様々な声の技巧（吟）が使用されている。立方（役者）が発声する「唱え」は登場人 物と密接な関係を持ち、その音楽性、音色、抑揚は、演者や観客に認識されている。 本論文では、これらの声の技巧を分析し、さらに琉球の言語、身分制度、ジェンダー との関係をもとに、琉球社会ではこれらはどのように形成されたかを考察する。さら に世界の演劇における声の技巧と比較しながら、組踊の唱えの特徴や普遍性につい て論じる。
Okinawa, the southernmost prefecture in Japan, has seen extensive cultural influence from Japan ... more Okinawa, the southernmost prefecture in Japan, has seen extensive cultural influence from Japan and the countries of East-Asia, while also developing its own distinctive cultural forms. In particular, recent research has emphasised the influence of Chinese music on the Okinawan classical tradition. A feature of several East-Asian musical systems is the metrical expansion and contraction of a given melody through the addition or removal of ornamentation. Concepts such as fangman jihua (making slow and adding flowers) in China, irama in Java, and thăw in Thailand are examples of such processes.
This paper examines a group of songs in the Okinawan classical and folk music traditions, and investigates similarities between compositional processes used in these songs, and the East-Asian musical concepts mentioned above. The paper focuses on 6 songs: Chikuten bushi, Agi[‘raised’]-chikuten bushi, Hai[‘fast’]-chikuten bushi, Iju [village name] hai-chikuten bushi, Chū[‘middle’]-chikuten bushi, and Takōyama. The first of these (the title Chikuten refers to the production of rice) can be considered the ‘parent tune’ (analogous to the muqu – mother tune – in the Chinese tradition) from which the other tunes derived. The first 5 pieces are from the classical repertory, while the 6th, Takōyama, is an adaptation of the tune in the folk tradition, and features very rapid accompaniment.
In addition to comparing musical elements of the Chikuten tune group with East-Asian musical traditions, I refer to the ‘Tune Family’ theory developed by Bayard, Bronson and others in Western folk musical traditions. I conclude that the songs of the Chikuten tune family were created using a process similar to that used in other East-Asian countries. However it is also clear that the process of melodic expansion used in the Okinawan case is considerably freer than that used in other East-Asian traditions, and doesn’t exhibit the strict metrical expansion or contraction found in these traditions.
日本本土とアジア大陸の間に位置する沖縄は、両地域に影響されつつ独自の音楽文化を育んでいる。琉球音楽において、歌曲の節名（曲名）に共通の言葉が用いられ、それらの曲が類似性を持つ幾つかの例が存在する。節名に「作田」がつく歌、《作田節》、《早作田節》、《伊集早作田節》、《揚作田節》、《中作田節》はその代表的な例である。これらの歌曲は旋律全体の拍数、演奏時間などがかなり異なることからも、旋律が拡大、または縮小されたと考えられる。また、琉球音楽の節名に見られる「早」や「長」はこの縮小・拡大プロセスに関連すると考察する。本論文では、これらの「作田」がつく歌曲を「作田型」とし、琉球古典音楽における旋律の類似性を考察し、その作曲プロセスを明らかにすることを目的とする。
東アジアや東南アジアの音楽に、旋律の基本的な音を保ちつつ、旋律全体を拡大、または縮小する演奏法が広く存在する。中国音楽における「放慢加花」（fangman jiahua）はこの演奏法の代表的な例である。また、ジャワ音楽の「イロモ」（irama）、タイ音楽における「タウ」（thăw）も、ある旋律を拡大または縮小するプロセスであり、東（南）アジアの音楽文化の一つの要素を示しているといえる。
本研究は、これら東アジアの音楽理論の他に、欧米の民族音楽学で、バヤード、ブロンソン、シーガー等の研究者により20世紀半ば頃から提唱された「Tune Family」（旋律系）理論を参考にする。その上で沖縄の伝統音楽には、中国や東南アジアにおける「拡大」、「縮小」と同様な作曲法が存在すると論じる。
Social Science Japan Journal, 2014
Social Science Japan Journal, 2012
History, Structure, and Use, 2015
Ethnomusicology Forum, 2015
Understanding the cultural and genetic origins of the Ainu of northern Japan has important implic... more Understanding the cultural and genetic origins of the Ainu of northern Japan has important implications for understanding the history of the Japanese archipelago. Ethnomusicologists have tended to emphasise connections between Ainu music and a 'circumpolar' culture area. However, the 'dual structure' model from physical anthropology describes the Ainu as descendants of the first inhabitants of Japan with minimal circumpolar influence. To examine Ainu musical diversity empirically from a comparative perspective, we analysed 680 traditional songs from two Ainu and 33 surrounding East Asian and circumpolar populations. The Ainu repertoire contained a majority (∼50%) of unique stylistic songtypes and lower frequencies of types shared with circumpolar (∼40%) and East Asian (∼10%) populations. These frequencies were similar to the corresponding frequencies of mitochondrial DNA types within the Ainu gene pool (∼50%, ∼30% and ∼20%, respectively), consistent with an emerging 'triple structure' model of Japanese archipelago history.
Ethnomusicology Vol. 57, No. 3, 2013
In Takao Katsuragi and John C. Maher (eds.) Minority Language Revitalization - Contemporary Appro... more In Takao Katsuragi and John C. Maher (eds.) Minority Language Revitalization - Contemporary Approaches, Tokyo: Sangensha, pp. 236-268.
一音成仏 Itton Jōbutsu No. 49/50, 2020
二〇世紀前半の北米社会における尺八・仏教・前衛音楽 玉田如萍の活動を中心に The shakuhachi, Buddhism, and the avant-garde in early 20th... more 二〇世紀前半の北米社会における尺八・仏教・前衛音楽 玉田如萍の活動を中心に
The shakuhachi, Buddhism, and the avant-garde in early 20th-century American society - a study of the activities of Tamada Nyohyō
Yale Journal of Music and Religion, 2021
The early 20th century was a period in which understandings of music, religion, and the nation-st... more The early 20th century was a period in which understandings of music, religion, and the nation-state underwent rapid change in Japan. In this article I examine Japanese cultural discourse from the first decades of the 20th century in which the shakuhachi, a Japanese bamboo flute, was frequently portrayed as a religious instrument. In some cases, this discourse referenced pre-20th century historical affiliations of the shakuhachi with the Fuke-sect, an organization that was loosely affiliated to Rinzai Zen Buddhism. But the article also explores how religio-musical discourse surrounding the shakuhachi intersected with developments in modern Japanese religious life, as well as pre-WWII developments in the political life of Japan and Asia. Drawing primarily on articles from Sankyoku, one of the most important music magazines in early 20th century Japan, I show how public discourse contained in the media and other forms of writing is an important way to understand the rapid developments taking place in music and religion in Japan at this time.
Shima: The International Journal of Research into Island Cultures, Oct 2, 2017
Okinawa has one of Japan's most thriving traditional music cultures, and songs are an important w... more Okinawa has one of Japan's most thriving traditional music cultures, and songs are an important way that Okinawans understand and construct their island community. Most Okinawan songs have strong regional connections within Okinawa, either through lyrics that sing of local topography, events, or people, or because the melody is believed to have originated in a particular village. From the mid-20th Century on, many villages began constructing 'song monuments' (Japanese kahi) commemorating songs, composers, or lyrics, in order to create a tangible focus for what was essentially an intangible cultural entity. These monuments usually involve a substantial financial investment, either from local government or private donations, and are often placed in prominent spatial positions within the village. These song monuments are extremely popular among Okinawan music aficionados, and several guidebooks have been published to guide people to these sites. In recent years, bus tours have been organised to transport groups of aficionados en masse to these sites, and since 2015, a Facebook page has enabled the sharing of photographs and information relating to song monuments. The song monument phenomenon is particularly interesting for the way that it acts as a site for the simultaneous construction of connections between sound (the songs that performers sing), geographical space (the locations to which songs are connected) and community (the interpersonal links that are formed as people engage with song monuments). In this article I draw on my own experience visiting song monuments as part of the Okinawan music community, in order to analyse their social importance in modern Okinawa. I consider the song monument phenomenon in the context of domestic tourism, as well as a widespread culture of pilgrimage in Japan. [Note all translations of Japanese phrases in this article are the author's.]
Japan’s southernmost prefecture of Okinawa has a thriving traditional music culture that has beco... more Japan’s southernmost prefecture of Okinawa has a thriving traditional music culture that has become popular throughout the country, and has also become the basis for a more modern Okinawan pop music scene. Most Okinawan musical genres strongly emphasize vocal technique – vocal timbre, inflection and ornamentation are all singled out as being cultural markers that differentiate Okinawan genres from each other and from the vocal music of the Japanese mainland. Vocal techniques have long been theorized and mediated through both written and verbal aesthetic discourses, and the voice continues to be a way that regional identities, lineage affiliations and other aspects of Okinawan society are negotiated. In this article I draw on fifteen years as a researcher and performer of Okinawan folk and classical vocal traditions, as well as recent recorded interviews with performers and music producers, to analyse how these discourses function, and how they have interacted with changes in performance practice since the early twentieth century.
Asian Music, 2018
The Ryukyuan kumiudui musical theater uses a variety of codified vocal techniques to identify the... more The Ryukyuan kumiudui musical theater uses a variety of codified vocal techniques to identify the gender and social class of each character. Degrees of musicality, variation in timbre, and pitch inflection are all understood as emblematic of particular character types. In this article I analyze these vocal techniques and consider the ways in which they are constructed within Ryukyuan society with reference to the Ryukyuan language, class system, and gender relationships. I compare kumiudui vocal culture with other world theater traditions and argue that many parallels exist in how vocal identities are constructed.
Abstract:
琉球の古典演劇である組踊では、登場人物のジェンダー、身分などを区別するため に様々な声の技巧（吟）が使用されている。立方（役者）が発声する「唱え」は登場人 物と密接な関係を持ち、その音楽性、音色、抑揚は、演者や観客に認識されている。 本論文では、これらの声の技巧を分析し、さらに琉球の言語、身分制度、ジェンダー との関係をもとに、琉球社会ではこれらはどのように形成されたかを考察する。さら に世界の演劇における声の技巧と比較しながら、組踊の唱えの特徴や普遍性につい て論じる。
Okinawa, the southernmost prefecture in Japan, has seen extensive cultural influence from Japan ... more Okinawa, the southernmost prefecture in Japan, has seen extensive cultural influence from Japan and the countries of East-Asia, while also developing its own distinctive cultural forms. In particular, recent research has emphasised the influence of Chinese music on the Okinawan classical tradition. A feature of several East-Asian musical systems is the metrical expansion and contraction of a given melody through the addition or removal of ornamentation. Concepts such as fangman jihua (making slow and adding flowers) in China, irama in Java, and thăw in Thailand are examples of such processes.
This paper examines a group of songs in the Okinawan classical and folk music traditions, and investigates similarities between compositional processes used in these songs, and the East-Asian musical concepts mentioned above. The paper focuses on 6 songs: Chikuten bushi, Agi[‘raised’]-chikuten bushi, Hai[‘fast’]-chikuten bushi, Iju [village name] hai-chikuten bushi, Chū[‘middle’]-chikuten bushi, and Takōyama. The first of these (the title Chikuten refers to the production of rice) can be considered the ‘parent tune’ (analogous to the muqu – mother tune – in the Chinese tradition) from which the other tunes derived. The first 5 pieces are from the classical repertory, while the 6th, Takōyama, is an adaptation of the tune in the folk tradition, and features very rapid accompaniment.
In addition to comparing musical elements of the Chikuten tune group with East-Asian musical traditions, I refer to the ‘Tune Family’ theory developed by Bayard, Bronson and others in Western folk musical traditions. I conclude that the songs of the Chikuten tune family were created using a process similar to that used in other East-Asian countries. However it is also clear that the process of melodic expansion used in the Okinawan case is considerably freer than that used in other East-Asian traditions, and doesn’t exhibit the strict metrical expansion or contraction found in these traditions.
日本本土とアジア大陸の間に位置する沖縄は、両地域に影響されつつ独自の音楽文化を育んでいる。琉球音楽において、歌曲の節名（曲名）に共通の言葉が用いられ、それらの曲が類似性を持つ幾つかの例が存在する。節名に「作田」がつく歌、《作田節》、《早作田節》、《伊集早作田節》、《揚作田節》、《中作田節》はその代表的な例である。これらの歌曲は旋律全体の拍数、演奏時間などがかなり異なることからも、旋律が拡大、または縮小されたと考えられる。また、琉球音楽の節名に見られる「早」や「長」はこの縮小・拡大プロセスに関連すると考察する。本論文では、これらの「作田」がつく歌曲を「作田型」とし、琉球古典音楽における旋律の類似性を考察し、その作曲プロセスを明らかにすることを目的とする。
東アジアや東南アジアの音楽に、旋律の基本的な音を保ちつつ、旋律全体を拡大、または縮小する演奏法が広く存在する。中国音楽における「放慢加花」（fangman jiahua）はこの演奏法の代表的な例である。また、ジャワ音楽の「イロモ」（irama）、タイ音楽における「タウ」（thăw）も、ある旋律を拡大または縮小するプロセスであり、東（南）アジアの音楽文化の一つの要素を示しているといえる。
本研究は、これら東アジアの音楽理論の他に、欧米の民族音楽学で、バヤード、ブロンソン、シーガー等の研究者により20世紀半ば頃から提唱された「Tune Family」（旋律系）理論を参考にする。その上で沖縄の伝統音楽には、中国や東南アジアにおける「拡大」、「縮小」と同様な作曲法が存在すると論じる。
Social Science Japan Journal, 2014
Social Science Japan Journal, 2012
History, Structure, and Use, 2015
Ethnomusicology Forum, 2015
Understanding the cultural and genetic origins of the Ainu of northern Japan has important implic... more Understanding the cultural and genetic origins of the Ainu of northern Japan has important implications for understanding the history of the Japanese archipelago. Ethnomusicologists have tended to emphasise connections between Ainu music and a 'circumpolar' culture area. However, the 'dual structure' model from physical anthropology describes the Ainu as descendants of the first inhabitants of Japan with minimal circumpolar influence. To examine Ainu musical diversity empirically from a comparative perspective, we analysed 680 traditional songs from two Ainu and 33 surrounding East Asian and circumpolar populations. The Ainu repertoire contained a majority (∼50%) of unique stylistic songtypes and lower frequencies of types shared with circumpolar (∼40%) and East Asian (∼10%) populations. These frequencies were similar to the corresponding frequencies of mitochondrial DNA types within the Ainu gene pool (∼50%, ∼30% and ∼20%, respectively), consistent with an emerging 'triple structure' model of Japanese archipelago history.
Ethnomusicology Vol. 57, No. 3, 2013