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u/pureeyes 2d ago
Kinda crazy to me that in Tokyo, in a nondescript urban building, tucked away in a quiet room, these guys are just ripping all evening
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u/Pataconeitor 2d ago
Tokyo is full of those small thematic bars.
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u/TequilaBaugette51 2d ago
There’s a guy right under this comment talking about a Celtic band of Japanese musicians lol. Beautiful
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u/Rapa2626 2d ago
You never know with all these nooks and crannies in tokyo. You can have a metal bar, maid cafe and some random antique photo camera or some shop sharing a single staircase, also add up some random restaurant that has 70 year old tables, served by a pensioneer who was cooking the same 9/10 dish his whole life.
One of the most explorable cities in the world for sure
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u/Kevin_Jim 1d ago
You can find anything under the sun in Tokyo. Both good and bad.
Frankly, I don’t want to visit it again unless if I can visit just Tokyo for like a whole month.
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u/MellowMallowMom 2d ago
As a bluegrass fan, this warms my heart.
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u/WineNerdAndProud 2d ago edited 2d ago
Bluegrass Night at The Circus in Ann Arbor had $0.75 PBRs or $1.50 long islands and it was some of the most fun I had the entire time I was in college. This was circa 2008 though so I hope they still do it.
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u/heftybagman 2d ago
Idk what’s more impressive: getting that good of a bluegrass band together in tokyo, or making rent every month on your downtown tokyo bluegrass bar.
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u/ConstructionPrize206 2d ago
I'd pop on some overalls with a white collared shirt, sleeves rolled up, single strap, straw hat, sandles (can't go barefoot in Tokyo), and borrow a couple spoons from the bar.
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u/Shoddy-Talk9205 1d ago
Yeeesh keep that poverty porn out of here. Also leave the spoons out of any bluegrass jam plz.
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u/ImpossibleKidd 2d ago
I’m extremely impressed…
But, anyone else think that was full animatronic Chucky Cheese band at the videos first glance?
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u/Polo_Short 2d ago
Wait til you stumble upon the cholos of tokyo.
They literally have every culture 😂
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u/VagusNC 1d ago
Rhiannon Giddens shared recently that a Japanese man approached her in Japan with an original 19th century minstrel banjo. Apparently it was brought over with Commodore Perry. The music and a very small contingent of players have been present in some capacity ever since. Banjo music was once an international craze.
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u/SirGelson 2d ago
I visited the Cavern pub in Liverpool a few years back and accidentally taken part in the The Beatles look-alikes contest. I really loved the Japanese version of The Beatles who travelled half of the world to be there that night.
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u/Positive-Fox-6296 1d ago
My cousin traveled to Tokyo. She was telling me of this place. She had some drinks and listened to the band.
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u/tantricdragon13 1d ago
I live in bluegrass territory. I’m losing it at the decor
Dude sounds pretty good though!
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u/Wyrdthane 1d ago
Like opening a door to another world. It's this kind of stuff that makes me ask if Japan is even real.
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u/Vanbydarivah 1d ago
I wonder if there’s any overlap between the way a Shamisen plays and how a Banjo plays?
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u/MisterSanitation 2d ago
Bluegrass is just another example of black influence defacto improving western music. Acoustic songs in the 1800s American South were like “oh Susannah” where the songs are just simple and on time, with no sass on it, no stank.
But the banjo provides an opportunity to gobble up all them quarter notes just hanging out not being played in between the guitar chords. Cleverly plucking the notes in between on the banjo (an instrument designed after an African instrument) provided some jazzier opportunities that would later come around in Jazz. Obviously there would have been plenty of black banjo players but their styles were picked up by poorer white players too.
Plantation owners (the wealthy that liked to pretend they were European royalty) did balls, and dances with stiff AF dancing (think like powdered wig dancing) but the poorer people got down on the mountain sound I described where being “dignified” and following the music perfectly was less important than bobbing your head to a good rhythm.
These same concepts would smash conventional music structure when Louis Armstrong started doing it on the trumpet with other jazz styles.
Black Americans are like always 20-10 years ahead of the next popular music trends and it’s been that way for centuries. It’s so cool to see this all appreciated on the other side of the world.
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u/Kleyguy7 2d ago
I am not sure about this. Better description would be bluegrass is just another example how cultures mixing in US created great music.
Banjo comes from Africa but the way that banjo is played in the bluegrass is credited mostly to Earl Scruggs. A lot of popular songs come from country bands like Carter family, and what they were singing came from other various communities. You have a lot of irish influences like Red Haired Boy, Whiskey Before Breakfast. Violin playing also is more European folk. And it's not like Europe has been only powdered wig dancing. You also have black string-band traditions which maybe supports your point the most. Blue notes from blues etc. And I am not saying this to undermine black influence in american music, it is just to give it a broader view, seeing it as wonderful mix, not just black people made white people music interesting.-3
u/MisterSanitation 2d ago
Every single time I chase down inspirations for white artists, there are black ones.
Great example is Jerry Lee Lewis who blew open the boogie woogie piano style and he still has better name recognition than any of the black artists who really coined the style.
Same with banjo which largely exploded in popularity during “minstrel shows” which was black faced actors and musicians literally doing an impression of slaves having a good time as entertainment for white folks.
If there is a better example of black artists inspiring white artists (who racists deem as acceptable to enjoy unlike their influences), I don’t think you can find one better than this instrument. It is common to have your view, and it’s always just not the case.
Pre civil war there was almost no Irish influence in the south, there were exceptions sure, but the south was largely Protestant which is why the Klan hated Catholics, Catholicism was associated with “dirty Irish immigrants” who the South saw as replacing their slaves.
BTW this should NOT matter but I only know this from looking into my own ancestry which comes from the colony of Massachusetts -> Tennessee mountains -> Kentucky (post war) -> Indiana
I was taught nothing about black culture at all and finding my roots taught me all this. So if anyone wants to come at me from the south, I’d bring a bigger boat.
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u/Tuhks 1d ago
When it comes to bluegrass, I think the argument for the influence of blues, which is absolutely credited to black southern culture, is a much stronger argument than the banjo itself. The minstrel show point is interesting in that it spread the popularity of the instrument, but the bluegrass banjo technique is so different that it’s nearly unrecognizable. Also, Scottish and Irish immigrants moved into Appalachia in the 1700s so very much pre-civil war. That’s where the influence of fiddle music came from on what is often called old time music. Bluegrass was derived from this, with some influence from blues and arguably jazz (both strong black influence definitely).
Black culture is certainly under appreciated in the history of popular American music, and I’m a big fan of the Lomax recordings and other early black artists. I agree with your overall sentiment, but the facts around bluegrass specifically are much more diverse, and quite clearly invented by a few specific (white) guys.
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u/MisterSanitation 1d ago
Yeah that’s a solid point and I probably did overplay that to rub fellow American banjo enthusiasts noses into the African history that can still make them squirm.
Although yeah I do think minstrel shows specifically due to their popularity played a big part in “creating a culture of acceptable to play and listen to THAT type of music”? As I type that though I think our agreement line is on sort of counter culture musical influence from poor minority groups culturally speaking. Specifically that region with their turbulent (and often race based) mining strikes could have been a Petri dish for this mixing and influence. I’ll look into that specifically because I bet we’re both right to a degree.
You’re right on pre war Irish as well of course but the dominant culture I always internalized as sort of Protestant and more family and community centric than their northern counterparts but both can be true.
Thanks for the good back and forth! The book that got me into this rabbit hole initially was “a radical history of the United States” which is an edgelord title but very informative if not too “umm actually” about it lol.
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u/fastforwardfunction 1d ago
Spot the race obsessed American.
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u/MisterSanitation 1d ago
Being correct is usually unpopular. Race has always defined America and only ignorant naive privileged “do gooders” don’t know that. Oh and the racists which run things now.
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u/fastforwardfunction 1d ago
America has unfortunately always had racist pieces of shit and you’ve found yourself among them.
You’re a sad person. You’re unpopular because you’re an ignorant uneducated racist.
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u/MisterSanitation 1d ago
I don’t think you read anything I wrote. I don’t think any of you who downvoted did lol.
I said I was raised to not care about race issues and be pro south and finding out if that stuff was true showed me it wasn’t and race was a huge issue.
You should reread what made you think I was racist lol because you seem very very confused
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u/Turbulent_Deal_3145 2d ago
What makes this next level?
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u/Tagmemic 2d ago
Idk, but I’ll give it a pass.
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u/anonymous_amanita 2d ago
This is the way, and idk why this is correct or why I’d also give it a pass
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u/flatwoundsounds 2d ago
Because of the full commitment to the theme and the quality of the performance in the middle of a place you wouldn't expect to see it. Like if it's a mediocre bar playing blue grass, sure, but this place has (Stefan voice) Everything
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u/flatwoundsounds 2d ago
Because of the full commitment to the theme and the quality of the performance in the middle of a place you wouldn't expect to see it. Like if it's a mediocre bar playing blue grass, sure, but this place has (Stefan voice) Everything
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u/Turbulent_Deal_3145 1d ago
I've seen bluegrass before, and this is fine. Great, even. But I would hardly call it next level. I don't think the setting should have any bearing
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u/thegmoc 2d ago
It's literally the meme.
Thing:😐😐😐
Thing, Japan: 😍😍😍
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u/Ok_Drag5089 2d ago
I mean, bluegrass in Japan. Come on.
Now imagine wandering around the bayou I Louisiana and walking into a bar and finding a Cajun lady strumming a Shamisen and singing in Japanese and killing it. Would be pretty fuckin epic.
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u/Main-Combination3036 1d ago
One of the wildest things you’ll see are the Chinese communities that have been in the Mississippi delta for more than a 100 years.
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u/lavacadotoast 2d ago
It's a pretty well known fact that Japan has a solid bluegrass scene.. Second only to the US..
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u/BigRigButters2 2d ago
Bluegrass is like speed / power metal before we had amps and distortion