TRIP TO JAPAN, October 2008 - Page 9
|
NAVIGATION |
|
In Toku's Workshop Tokyo Pipe Show Other Photos |
Maebashi, Monday, October 6, evening
"The Maebashi Mountain Boys' Heaven Hell Session"
|
After a late dinner in Maebashi, Toku asks Kasue to leave us at a small bar along a canal where Toku says we'll "have a drink and talk" for an hour or so.
The bar is called "Heaven Hell" and displays a large stash of Bud in cans. I also notice a lot of musical instruments on the wall. I realize that is the place where, for the past several months, Toku has played Bluegrass with a small group of musicians. |
|
Sure enough, shortly after we sit down to a couple of beers, a thin, smiling man enters the bar, and greets Toku warmly. This is "Jimmy," a 70-year-old retired farmer and one of the mainstays of Toku's group. Jimmy plays guitar, fiddle - and sings ... in a mixture of phonetic English and Japanese. The owner of the bar hands me a pair of bongos and the jam session of the "Maebashi Mountain Boys" begins. |
|
I am more than a little surprised to hear what Jimmy is singing: "May the circle be unbroken, by and by Lord, by and by ..." This is a song that I've played myself for many years. So I ask if I can have a guitar from the supply on the wall. I'm soon laying down a rhythm background for Toku and Jimmy's performances of standards like "Hey, good-lookin'" and "Cold, cold heart." |
|
We've been the only patrons in the bar, but the owner seems to have enjoyed her private concert. Below she's holding one of Teddy's pipes. |
|
Though there's no audio record of our trio's "Heaven Hell Session," the group Toku plays in has some videos on YouTube. I list three places to start below. Hold onto your pipes! Country-Eastern music? ...Yee-haw-ne! http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=N09iJnRNUhU http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=ujdz1-YBU0o http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=a-Wk-1f9s40 |
|
And for a clearer sense of the lyrics (with their occasional mixture of English and Japanese) listen to some of Jimmy's trio performances, such as: http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnKBXJpzrFk http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=Ax8j654dEvQ |
|
NAVIGATION |
|
In Toku's Workshop Tokyo Pipe Show Other Photos |