The "Owara-bushi" is one of the most popular minyo (folksongs) in the Yatsuo region in Toyama Prefecture. This folktune is the main feature of the Owara kaze-no-bon, a Buddhist festival in early September, celebrating the coming fall-season.
On the day of the festival, all communities in Yatsuo prepare their own kimono costumes (two kindes for each community; one for male dancers and another for female dancers). Dancers with these kimonos appears on the stage to show their elegant choreography to the tourists. The dancers are accompanied by the hayashi, or instrumental ensemble for minyo, consisted of the shamisen, kokyu, and the small taiko drum. After their staged show is over at midnight, the dancers and musicians moves to the street of Yatuo and begin parading with their quiet, slow-moving dance and sounds from the folk instruments, leaving the spectators the impression of the summer's end.
For those who are looking for live recordings of this minyo festival, you should look for different CDs or a DVD. This CD does not include a live recording of today's minyo performance; it is a compilation of old recordings originally released on the 78s. Nonetheless, it is interesting to compare the performances and to hear different tempi and singing styles of the same folktune. Actually, in some versions, the piece itself is quite heavily altered or arranged, and improvisational passages may be added here and there.
Generally speaking, earlier performances are faster than the later ones. As the performance becomes slower and slower, the sound of the kokyu becomes more emiment in the ensemble. Now the kokyu is the most characteristic sound in this folktune. I do not know other minyo using the kokyu in the hayashi ensemble.
The transfer and editing process of each version on this CD varies, too. One version includes a brief pause between Sides A and B of the original 78 rpm disc. In a different version, two sides of the disc are neatly connected. Some versions are direct transfers from the disc; in other versions, discs are played on the old grammophone first, and the sound coming from the loud speaker is picked up by the microphone.
The CD, as a whole, is a nice piece of history.
