Until now, I have never written for the shamisen.
For me personally, Japanese instruments are the cliché music we hear in Japanese restaurants outside of Japan, or what we see on New Year’s Day television programs in Japan.
When Honjoh Hidejiro commissioned this work, I realized I needed to do extensive research to be able to write for the shamisen. I worked closely with Hidejiro, as he would be the player who would premiere this piece, and we exchanged ideas through lots of Skype sessions as well as emails, with me sending him portions of written music and then listening to his recordings.
"neo" is a part of shamisen.
For some reason, I had a rather cartoon or comic book-like image about the instrument. Like some ninja or samurai who plays shamisen, and a part of the shamisen is a samurai sword, or something (yes, I watch too many movies and too much TV).
In particular, though, my attraction to the shamisen was the concept of adding "noise" to the sound, which is unthinkable in western classical music. I loved it.
I immediately thought of it as a bit like distortion with an electric guitar. So I treated this piece like a guitar solo in rock concert.
I hope you are cheering and screaming when he finishes this piece, like you would in a rock concert.
Dai Fujikura
僕にとって初めて三味線の曲。邦楽器の個人的な印象は、日本以外の国の日本料理店で流れているお決まりのBGMか、日本で正月のテレビ番組で見るくらいしかなかった。本條秀慈郎さんに曲を委嘱された時は、三味線の曲を書くためには相当勉強をしなくてはいけないと思った。本條さんが曲を世界初演するということで彼とは密に連絡を取り、度々のヴィデオチャットやメールを通じてたくさんのアイディアをやり取りし、僕から書いては楽譜を送り、彼がその断片の楽譜を演奏した録音を聴くという作業だった。”Neo（音緒）”とは、三味線の部品のことだ。僕はどういう訳か、三味線という楽器を思うと漫画のようなイメージが沸いてくる。忍者か侍のような姿の人が三味線を弾き、三味線の一部が刀のようになっていて、とか(映画とテレビの見過ぎかも)。三味線で特に興味を惹かれたのは、西洋の伝統的なクラシックでは許されない、サウンドに「ノイズ」を加えるというコンセプトだ。すぐに思い浮かんだのは、エレキギターでのディストーションのようなものだ。エレキギターの曲みたいな三味線の曲なのかも。
藤倉大