On Monday of this past week, Tsugaru shamisen player Toshie Suzuki performed at Kick Butt Coffee’s World Music Night at The Triangle in Austin. Suzuki-san alternated performances on stage with local jazz band Manteca Beat. (Be sure to swing by their site and listen to some of their music.)

Toshie Suzuki at Kick Butt Coffee Manteca Beat at Kick Butt Coffee

Here’s the video of her performance. I apologize in advance for the fact that my video camera doesn’t perform well in low-light. Otherwise, enjoy the video.

Toshie Suzuki at Kick Butt Coffee in Austin from Austin Otaku on Vimeo.

The first thing you may notice is that her performance doesn’t sound at all like any other shamisen performance you’ve heard. The Tsugaru style of shamisen uses a much more rhythmic and percussive form, presumably to beat the cold. Suzuki-san said that if people in Tsugaru played shamisen like they did in more formal styles elsewhere in Japan, the player would freeze.

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