World Music Exploration 2010/11 Week 20 - Traditional Japanese Music

It's definitely cold and flu season. This last bout of colds means that it's time to beef up on those vitamins and regularly clean off the piano keys!Our musical exploration resumes with Japan, a country I hope to visit someday. Some traditional Japanese musical instruments include the taiko drums, the koto (stringed instrument), the shakuhachi (flute) and the shamisen.

This week's clip features the shamisen, which is a long necked banjo-like instrument with three strings. The two musicians display their virtuosity and showmanship in this clip, which reminds me of fight scenes from the PS2 game "Samurai Warriors".

Here's a clip from "Samurai Warriors" that includes the shamisen:

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