"Red seal ship" with Japanese and Portuguese sailors, 17th century. Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Gururiyoza! - With music across the seas
s early as the 16th century, Spanish and Portuguese missionaries brought Western music to the Far East. Can we imagine the scene when Renaissance polyphony was taught in Japanese priestly seminaries and colegios, and Christian spiritual plays were performed in local vernacular languages? Due to the extreme oppression and persecution of Christians towards the end of the century, the evidence of these practices was almost erased, but enough traces have remained to revive and reconstruct them in our time.
This program presents the fascinating musical and cultural exchange between East and West, which is largely unknown to us today. Four specialized musicians, well acquainted with both Iberian and Japanese culture and music, will bring this adventurous program to the stage for the first time!
Ryosuke Sakamoto – Vihuela da mano, Vihuela d’arco, Voice; direction
Doron Schleifer – Voice
Ivo Haun – Vihuela da mano, Voice; co-direction
Joan Boronat Sanz – Renaissance organ, harpsichord, voice
European woman plays vihuela. Unknown painter of the Momoyama period (1573-1615); Yamato Bunka-kan Museum in Nara, Japan
2023
October
Glickhaftig!
From Felix Platter's musical lifeBarfüsserkirche
Historical Museum Basel
