Japanese Theatre: Kabuki

Kabuki originated in the Edo period and was more popular with the lower social class as compared to the higher social classes. The word ‘Kabuki’ is composed of three Japanese characters: ‘ka’ meaning ’songs’, ‘bu’ meaning ‘dance’ and ‘ki’ meaning ’skill’.

Kabuki was founded in the early 17th century and was created by a woman, Okuni. Okuni was a shrine maiden who brought her unique and lively dance style to the dry river beds of the ancient capital of Kyoto. Over the next 300 years, Okuni’s dance style became known as a traditional form of Japanese theater.

Even though Kabuki was originally created by a woman, all the roles in the early days were performed by men. Men who play the roles of women are referred to as “onnagata” female role specialists.
Kabuki plays and dances may be about grand historical events or the everyday life of people in the Edo period (1600-1868). For each play, though, the sets, music, costumes and other factors combine to create the fantastic world of Kabuki.

Kabuki plays are composed of certain varying elements that help it become so colorful and glamorous. These elements include: Story, Musical Elements, Dramatic Content, Dance, Costume, Make-up, Theatre Design, and Actor/Audience Relationship.

Kabuki plays are about society in a particular period, historical events, moral conflicts, love relationships etc. and are performed using a combination of dramatic dialogue and dance, and accompanied by drums, flutes, stringed instruments called shamisen, and chanting.

The Kabuki music also employs special spectacular audio-effects. The most exceptional among them is the sounding of wooden clappers signaling the opening and the closing of a Kabuki play. The actors/performers wear costumes that reflect the contemporary styles of the day.

The costumes play a major role to emphasize the character’s role being portrayed by the performer, as they themselves are full of complexity and hidden meaning. Along with the costumes, make-up is also considered as an integral part of Kabuki performance.

The theatrical designs have changed over a period of time, ranging from raised platforms on a riverbed to the modern day theatres having rotating stages and a whole range of gadgets. The last but not the least is the Actor-Audience Relationship as there are instances in a Kabuki play when an actor would come out of his role and address the audience directly.

The reason why I choose Kabuki Theatre was because I found it very interesting and educational. I love how the performers perform and move to the music and interpret the story that they are portraying. I love the traditional clothing the actors wear and the make-up. It reminds me of the movie geisha, because of the make-up and clothing. I also enjoyed the music, because it is different from what i listen too. I just really enjoyed watching the theater. I need to see one. The video I included, I liked because it was a up to date version of Kabuki and it was awesome.

Cited:

https://classes.uaf.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_id=_2_1&

http://www.asianartmall.com/kabukiarticle.htm

Steel Drums of Trinidad

Steel Drums of Trinidad

Steel Drums are popular in the Southern Caribbean, particularly Trinidad & Tobago. Traditionally made from cut-off 55 gallon oil drums beaten into separate tuned areas, the band consists of Tenor (lead), second, mid-range and bass pans. This is one of the most recently invented instrument. The Steel Drum carries the full chromatic range of notes, and can produce just about any type of music you can think of!

The drums evolved out of earlier musical practices of Trinidad. Drumming was used as a form of communication among the enslaved Africans and was subsequently outlawed by the British colonial government in 1783.

Winston “Spree” Simon was the first to produce tuned notes from a steel drum. His version was a dome shaped, convex surface instead of the bowl shaped concave surface that became popular. But, it was Ellie Mannette that responsible for the modern version, and for the spread of the steel drum.

Ellie Mannette is still alive today. Even at age 82, he continues to tinker with the instrument that he perfected. The steel drum has come a long way from banging a bamboo stick on the ground to announce a gang.

I chose Steel Drums because I really enjoy this kind of music. When I first heard this music,The Shake,Shake, Shake, Senora song came to mind. This steel drums clipping is the Little Mermaid, I love it. I enjoy it too, because it makes me very happy and it is just great music.

Cited:

http://www.hobgoblin-usa.com/info/glossary.htm

http://calypso-music.suite101.com/article.cfm/the_history_of_the_steel_drum#ixzz0XTjZcokD

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steel_drums#

Street Art

Kurt Wenner: Street Art

In 1982, Kurt Wenner began street painting in Rome. By 1984, he was recognized as the Master Street Painter. All his creations were inspired by anamorphic, which is a technique that used a unique geometry, that enabled him to bring his illusions to the horizontal surface of the street, making the art appear real to the eye. As you can see by the painting above.

Kurt Wenner new art form, is known as anamorphic, illusionistic, or simply 3-D painting. He states, as he works “ the classical figures and stories rise from the pavement to delight and astonished onlookers.” Many of his projects echo Renaissance classicism with a modern approach.

Wenner also creates public and private commissioned oil paintings, murals, sculpture and architecture all over the world. One of his largest U.S. murals (18′ square) is located on Wilshire Boulevard in Westwood, California and appeared in the movie Sneakers. Another large mural titled The Magic Flute hangs in the current Fresno, California City Hall. Currently, Kurt Wenner is writing a Street Painting History, explaining how sidewalk art and pavement art transformed itself into a spectacular medium, popular in Advertising, Publicity and numerous Street Painting Festivals.

Julian Beever-Street Art

According to Wikipedia, Julian Beever is an English, Belgium-based chalk artist[1] who has been creating trompe-l’œil chalk drawings on pavement surfaces since the mid-1990s. His works are created using a projection called anamorphosis, and create the illusion of three dimensions when viewed from the correct angle.

Beever works as a freelance artist and creates murals for companies. He has worked in the UK, Belgium, France, The Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Denmark, Spain, the U.S., Australia, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Russia and Portugal.

Besides this pavement art, Beever also paints murals with acrylic paints and replicas of the works of masters and oil paintings, and creates collages. Amongst his other work are wood panelled drawings, usually themed around music, measuring 7 metres long by 1.5 metres high.

Beever and Weener are two amazing artisits and I am just amazed on how they make the art look so real. I love it. I put these too together,because they are both very well-known street artists.

Cited:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Wenner

http://kurtwenner.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Beever

Early Modern

The photo “Migrant Mother” taken by Dorothea Lande is my favorite photo during the Early Modern Era. Dorothea Lande was funded by the Farm Security Administration to portray the plight of American farmers, sharecroppers, and migrant workers devastated by the depression. The migrant mother photo was taken in March 1936 at a camp for seasonal agricultural workers 175 miles north of Los Angeles.

Lande says, “I saw and approached the hungry and desperate mother, as if drawn by a magnet. I do not remember how I explained my presence or my camera to her but I do remember she asked me no questions. I made five exposures, working closer and closer from the same direction. I did not ask her name or her history. She told me her age, that she was 32. She said that they had been living on frozen vegetables from the surrounding fields, and birds that the children killed. She had just sold the tires from her car to buy food. There she sat in that lean-to tent with her children huddled around her, and seemed to know that my pictures might help her, and so she helped me. There was a sort of equality about it.”

I love how Lande captured the moment of the great depression in this photo. This is just a great picture. It shows the struggles of how women had to endure during this time. It is a sad photo, but a great one.

Sources:
“Migrant Mother, 1936,” EyeWitness to History, www.eyewitnesstohistory.com (2005).

Impressionism

Impressionism started in Paris. It is considered the movement of French painting, sometimes referred to as optical realism because of its almost scientific interest in the actual visual experience and effect of light and movement on appearance of objects. The Impressionist motto was, “human eye is a marvelous instrument. Impact worldwide was lasting and huge.”
I like impressionism style. I like the light colors, sketchy lines, loose brush strokes, and the blended of colors. I like the subject matter, which was the transitory effect of light and weather. The amusements and pastimes of the middle and upper middle class, the pleasant moments, and how it did not focus on traditional subject matter: history and classical antiquities and religion.
The painting that I like was painted by John Singer Sargent, “Carnation, Lily, Lily Rose.”
I love all the Japanese influence in this painting. I love the glow of the lanterns and flowers. They are awesome.

Cited:

http://www.huntfor.com/arthistory/c19th/impressionism.htm

Classical Era

A Classical music/theater piece that I liked was, “Queen of the Night Aria from The Magic Flute” written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1971. I really don’t know what they were saying but by the acting of the actors and the stage lighting and setting it pretty much said it all. The main actress that sang the whole piece was amazing and I am still wondering how she did it. I love the vocals, they just give you a tingle feeling. This piece does show the changes in music at this time. It is way different from anything that I heard in the Baroque era.

Baroque Era

The Girl with a Pearl Earring painted by Johannes Vermeer between 1632 and 1675. He is a Dutch Baroque painter. He specializes in domestic interior scenes of ordinary life. Vermeer worked slowly and with great care, using bright colors, sometimes-expensive pigments, with a preference for cornflower blue and yellow. This piece is considered one of Vermeer’s masterpieces. This painting is often considered the “the Dutch Mona Lisa.”

The girl’s turban and silk garments reminds viewers of how the Dutch attained most of their wealth through merchant trade with the east. The pearl earrings the girl is wearing, symbolizes a high status during the time. Most of Vermeer’s paintings focus on a single person, or two people. This painting tells an amusing story of a woman who accepts money in exchange for her womanly favors. This piece is one of Vermeer’s personal painting, but I believe that it falls under the influence of the thirty year war, because of the date it was painted. An also, because of the painting of the oils and usage of a maid dressed up in elegant clothing and the contrast of the colors. I really like this painting; it shows the hardship and the depression at the time of the war. It indicates what a woman would do for money.

The Merode Altarpiece

The Merode Altarpiece created by Robert Campin in 1426 was my favorite piece from the Northern Renaissance. It is a three-panel painting, which is called a triptych. This painting symbolizes the reformation era of the Northern Renaissance. The reformation was a religious movement, which begun by Martin Luther in his writing, Ninety-Five Theses in 1517.

The Reformation had a major change upon the art. Martin Luther was also responsible for the iconoclasm in painting, which was the belief that there should not be religious pictures, generally seeing them as a form of idolatry. The term literally means icon breaking.

I found Campins painting amazing, because he captured the reformation. He uses religious painting to justify Martin Luther’s ideas about the reformation. It was also amazing, because this one painting represents and holds hidden meaning. This painting also includes many fine point details. It was just beautiful.

Trisha Madros

Hello! My name is Trisha. This is my first blog on the blogging site.

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