Tawarazumi Song: The heart of our hometown passed down through song

Nambu Tawatsumi UtaMika Jinno · Yoko Nagayama

Mika Shinno (Mika Kamino) & Yoko Nagayama — Nambu Tawara Tsumi Uta — Shamisen

Folk song singers Mika Shinno and Yoko Nagayama, both enka performers, are singing and playing the shamisen together, adding interjections.

Personally, I think this is one of the pieces that represent Japan.

I also think it would be charming and interesting to visit the actual place and listen to it there.

Nambu Tawatsumi UtaYoko Nagayama

Mika Shinno (Mika Kamino) & Yoko Nagayama — Nambu Tawara Tsumi Uta — Shamisen

This is a video from Iwate Prefecture.

Ms.

Kaori Kozai is also singing together in this one.

Personally, I think people who have done folk songs, rokyoku, or shigin have very stable voices.

I got the impression that it has a nationwide appeal.

It’s a song shaped by various regions and perspectives.

Nambu Tawatsumi UtaKaori Kouzai

Kaori Kozai – Nanbu Tawara-tsumi Uta

A folk song and door-to-door performance song handed down in Sannohe District, Aomori Prefecture.

It is a type of large communal entertainment in which performers go from house to house, visit at the gate or in the sitting room, present a dance, and receive money or goods.

Because what is passed down differs depending on the singer, does it, like an enka singer performing a rōkyoku piece, tend to give listeners an impression much like that of a folk song?

Nanbu Rice-Bale Stacking Song

Elderly Celebration Ceremony – Congratulatory Dance: Nambu Tawaratsumi Song (Kitakyushu City) 2013

The Nanbu Tawara-tsumi Song was celebrated at the Respect-for-the-Aged Day ceremony.

It was performed as a celebratory dance on September 16, 2013.

I imagine many of our seniors are more familiar with Akita folk songs—so much so that they’re even danced down in Kyushu—but how was it for you? If you have a chance in the area again, why not stop by?

Nambu Tawatsumi Uta

Chorus, dance, Nanbu Tawara-tsumi Uta. (Photographed in July 2009)

The 50th Anniversary Fujita Shūjirō Fujinami Association Folk Song Festival.

We’ll groove to various rhythms through dance, chorus, and a variety of videos.

There are still songs and dances across the country that we haven’t heard yet, and we’re carrying on with a single-minded desire to incorporate even a little of them.

Personally, I’m looking for famous songs themed around folk music.

Nambu Tawatsumi Uta

Nambu Tawatsumi Song (Hometown Festival Tokyo 2012)

At the 2012 Furusato Matsuri Tokyo, following the Nanbu performing arts—one of Hachinohe’s traditional arts—Hachinohe Hōrei Kagura will be performed at the Tokyo Dome Festival Plaza.

Although there are regional differences, it would be wonderful if these traditional performing arts were passed down and shared across the country and the world.

Nambu Tawatsumi Uta

Nambu Tawarazumi Song (Hachinohe Nambu folk song, hand dance)

At Tokyo Dome on January 11, 2016 (day 3 of the Furusato Matsuri Tokyo), a Hachinohe Nanbu folk song performance was held at the Festival Plaza.

It was the Nanbu Tawara-zumi Uta stage.

With local cultures being reevaluated lately—through things like Guinness World Records and UNESCO registrations—this was a great opportunity, and I was deeply moved by this stage.