Music Festivals

YOSAKOI MATSURI

        
            Yosakoi Matsuri is one of the most famous music festivals in Japan. It takes place in Kochi and lasts from the 9th to 12th August every year. The festival is closely  connected with national tradition, which was surprising for us since the most popular festivals in Poland (like Kraków Live or Open'er) present artists from all over the world and don't refer to Polish folklore at all.Unlike in Poland, during Japanese festival called "Yosakoi Matsuri" many dance groups compete with each other for being the best team by performing a traditional Japanese dance "Yosakoi. 

         

Yosakoi

         The first Yosakoi Matsuri took place in 1954 in Kochi, just after the official "Yosakoi Naruko Dancing" song was created, which is based on "Yosakoi-bushi" melody and each team is obliged to include some part of this song into their music. The music is accompanied by dance called Yosakoi which means "come at night". It's very energetic and combine traditional and modern music. Dancers hold naruko (wooden hand clappers) that were traditionally held by farmers to scare birds away from the rice fields. The costumes are similar within a dance group. The most popular ones are happi coats and yukata kimonos in many different colours and patterns.

Festival

          
          The festival starts with a beautiful firework display which puts the entire city into a festive mood. The participants are men and women of almost all ages - also within a single team. This fact is also very interesting since our most popular festivals are mainly targeted at young people. Over 200 teams and 20 000 people from all over the country gather on the streets of Kochi to enjoy the exceptional atmosphere of Yosakoi Matsuri. It is held on a road near the largest station: Hakkaido. 
There are three main rules of the competition that every participant must obey during the event: 

1. The maximum number of participants in each team is 150 

2. They must use the naruko clappers while dancing 

3. The music arrangement must contain part of "Yosakoi Naruko Dancing" song, written by Takemasa Eisaku .

If you like ,you can join some team and present your dancing skills but if you have no desire to do that - you can still take part in a festival by voting for your favourite team.

Yosakoi in Poland

         During our research we found out that there is a group "Sakurami Poland" which  performed  this year(2018) on the Yosakomi Matsuri festival next to Japanese professionals! The group was set up in 2012 and operates in Warsaw, Cracow and Poznan. The members are very passionate about Yosakomi dance and Japanese culture. They were very determined to take part in the festival, they had to collect a lot of money to be able to pay for a trip, costumes flags or an obligatory fee, which allows you to perform in a festival. But thanks to hard work , passion and tenacity they have managed to succeed, which is a huge triumph!

Kouhaku Uta Gassen
"紅白歌合戦"

  Kouhaku Uta Gassen, more commonly known as Kōhaku , is an annual New Year's Eve television special produced by the Japanese public broadcaster NHK.  It starts on the 31st of December  and it is held inside  the builiding ,so unlike Yosakoi,a lot of people can't take part in it. 

 It is broadcast live simultaneously on television and radio, nationally and internationally by the NHK network and by some overseas (mainly cable) broadcasters who buy the program. The show ends shortly before midnight. Before the show began broadcasting on television in 1953, it was held on the 3^rd of  January and only consisted of a radio broadcast.

 Nowadays it is watched on TV by Japanese people and there are many famous singers and traditional music at the concerts. Last year there were artists like: RADWINPS or XJapan .People at different ages take part in the festival. The program divides the most popular music artists of the year into competing teams of red and white. The "red" team or akagumi is composed of all female artists (or groups with female vocals), while the "white" team or shirogumi is all male (or groups with male vocals). At the end of the show, judges and the audience vote to decide which group performed better. The honor of performing in Kōhaku is strictly by invitation, so only the most successful singers in the Japanese entertainment industry can perform in it . In addition to the actual music performances, the costumes, hair-styles, makeup, dancing, and lighting are also important. Even today, a performance on Kōhaku is said to be a big highlight in a singer's career because of the show's wide reach.

NHK NODO JIMAN

         Nodo Jiman is much different than other festivals described above, because in fact it is not a festival but a long-running TV program. It is broadcasted on NHK TV and NHK radio in Japan.

          The most important fact about the show is that common people take part in it and if you are a Japanese amateur singer it is a great opportunity for you to test your skills in a competition with other singers of yours kind. Nodo Jiman  features amateur singers who live in the locality where the competition is held. In that way, each week Nodo Jiman is broadcast from a different city in one of Japan's 47 prefectures. Thanks to that citizens of every prefecture have a chance to compete in the program.

The host who opens the show always starts with presenting and describing the features of the particular local venue such as culture, landscape and others. Initial number of contestants is twenty and the host introduces every each of them. Mostly they are solo singers but it also happens that they perform in the groups. Every group or participant have a minute to show off their abilities and at the end of that time a certain number of bells are rung to rate the performance. When one or two bells are rung means that the performance was marked negatively and the competitor is eliminated while the sound of eleven bells let the competitor pass to next round.

           Meanwhile two special guests appear on the show. They are well-known Japanese form the music industry and they take part in each broadcast. Their task is to support the contestants and give feedback on their performances. Viewers also have a chance to see those special guests giving performances on one of their most popular songs. That for sure increases the level of a viewership and it is one in a lifetime experience for contestants to meet their idols.

Previous eliminations emerged a group of participants among those the award of “This week's champion” will be given. The performance of the winner is considered as the most interesting and remarkable. But the story of the winner does not stop in that point. Every year (early March) about fifteen champions from the year before are given the opportunity to perform one more time in a great music battle in which The Grand Champion is going to be selected. This time the event takes place in NHK Hall. Furthermore, during the final competition three famous figures are engaged.

           Moreover, program attracts such a big attention that two movies were made in which Nodo Jiman plays an important role. One of the films describes the stories of people who decided to give a try in Nodo Jiman TV program.