[78-L] ancient Japanese record

[Taylor Bowie]

Thanks,  David.  I will get you a scan in the next day or two.

Taylor B


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Hopkins/Kato" <hopkat at sa2.so-net.ne.jp>
To: <78-l at 78online.com>
Sent: Tuesday, May 05, 2009 4:41 PM
Subject: Re: [78-L] ancient Japanese record


> Please send me a scan of the label and I'll be happy to translate it for
> you.
> The American Record is indeed an early incarnation of Nipponophone, 
> pressed,
> I believe, in the USA. The early history of the record industry in Japan 
> is
> murky, but the date 1910-1915 is probably pretty close. I'd guess closer 
> to
> 1910, as you did.
> From the description, I'd guess that you have a geisha performance. Geisha
> were, of course, one of the main models of "pro singer" used by the new
> industry. There are basically two types of geisha performance on record. 
> One
> is short songs, sometimes cheerful, but more often laments. Geisha also
> performed long narrative songs, which accompanied dances when live. These
> are less common on record, since they had to be divided over several
> records.
> Incidentally, under Japanese tax law at the time, no one could have two
> occupations, so a singer for a record company would have to have "retired"
> from being a real geisha. There were five classes of geisha, the lowest 
> two
> being pretty close to mere prostitution, the highest one being a very
> refined level of art. I'm guessing that your label identifies the singer 
> and
> the geisha district she is from, which is usual practice. Although there 
> is
> the usual question of recording speed, it seems pretty clear that geisha
> voices rose quite a lot in the 20th century.
> I could go on....
>
> David Hopkins
> Nara, Japan
>
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