Japanese traditional sounds influence American films
Cultural News, December 2005 Issue
Versatile musician Masakazu Yoshizawa is the busiest Japanese traditional musician in American films. He not only played for the latest big budget film “Memoirs of Geisha” but also gave a consultation to the composer of the film and wrote a piece for the film. (Cultural News Photo)
By Takeshi Nakayama
Japanese traditional instruments such as shakuhachi, koto, tsuzumi drums and Japanese flute are today having a greater influence on American movies than ever before.
Leading the vanguard of Japanese traditional musicians in American films is Masakazu Yoshizawa, known for his expertise on Japanese flutes and percussion instruments. He is a major contributor to the musical score for the big budget movie, “Memoirs of a Geisha.”
Yoshizawa, 55, received a call from Sony last December (2004) offering him an acting job playing a drummer in “Geisha.”
This year (2005), he was hired to play shakuhachi and other Japanese instruments for the film’s sound track. But before starting the session on Aug. 4, John Williams, the film’s composer, wanted to study how to use the Japanese instruments in the score.
“Many composers don’t care about how to use Japanese instruments,” he complains. “They just call me and say ‘Can you play something just looking at the movie? Because I don’t know how to write for shakuhachi.’”
On the other hand, Williams tries to be accurate, Yoshizawa points out. “He is such a great musician. He is authentic but creative.”
Making sound tracks for major movies usually takes about five days, he says. “But for ‘Memoirs for a Geisha,’ we wound up playing over one month because, instead of doing the sound track in a big recording studio, John Williams wanted to do it concert-style. For three days we moved to Royce Hall at UCLA ... He wanted to have small ensemble sections—only koto and shakuhachi in one section, or only percussion in another.”
“Memoirs of a Geisha” is unusual in movie scoring, Yoshizawa notes; it uses traditional Japanese musical instruments as much as possible. And it features solo players such as Yo Yo Ma on cello, Itzak Pearlman on violin, Hiromi Hashibe on koto, Tateo Takahashi on shamisen and Yoshizawa.
“I was so happy to be there, because there were so many great studio musicians and the session was so great,” he exudes. “We had a really good time.”
Williams also asked Yoshizawa to write original music for the dance number when Sony couldn’t get permission from Kyoto to use a special piece. “I composed about 400 measures in two nights ... I ended up composing and arranging four pieces in the score, besides playing and acting, so it was a lot of extra work,” reveals the veteran of 100-plus movie sound track performances.
Japanese instrument becoming sound elements
American movies in the 1950s and 1960s used Japanese instruments only in Japan-themed movies like “Sayonara,” Yoshizawa comments, but in the 1970s and 1980s, composers started using Japanese instruments as an element of the sound.
“When I started,” he notes, “they wanted a sound Western music didn’t have--Shakuhachi or other Japanese instruments--a sound that was new and fit the film. In ‘Jurassic Park,’ nobody notices the shakuhachi playing. It sounds like a dinosaur’s cry, so John Williams (composer of ‘Jurassic Park’) said we’re going to use shakuhachi.”
Yoshizawa prefers working on non-Japan-themed films where he can still use the shakuhachi or other Japanese flutes. “I feel more comfortable with that,” he says. “When they make a Japan-themed movie using traditional instruments in kind of a strange way, I feel it distorts our tradition. I feel more comfortable, and have more fun, working on other movies.”
Versatile musician
Born at Kawai Village near Hida Takayama city in Gifu prefecture, Yoshizawa graduated with a degree in Western musical tradition from Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music.
Coming to America in 1976 to attend the Tanglewood Music Festival in Massachusetts, he moved to Los Angeles later that year. He has done studio work, movie and television music, and numerous concerts over the past 29 years. He plays the shakuhachi, woodwinds and percussion, as well as clarinet and saxophone.
Yoshizawa first used shakuhachi in 1978 for a Los Angeles performance of “The Teahouse of the August Moon.” He was playing saxophone, clarinet and flute when the director asked him if he could play the shakuhachi.
A few months later, he met Osamu Kitajima, who invited Yoshizawa to play shakuhachi in his band. “We played together on almost all of Osamu’s CDs and all of his gigs for more than 20 years,” Yoshizawa says. “And, Osamu recommended me as a shakuhachi player in studio for many other musicians. We played on some movies together.”
Yoshizawa has also worked on “Jurassic Park,” “Lost World,” “Gung Ho,” “Bat 21,” “Karate Kid (II and III),” and “Joy Luck Club,” among others, as well as numerous TV shows.
“I love doing studio work, and I also like doing concerts,” he says. “Studio work is most comfortable, most challenging, and the pay is good.”
Beside his solo activities, Yoshizawa has formed “Kokin Gumi” trio with Koto player Hiromi Hashibe and Tsugaru-Shamisen player Tateo Takahashi since 1993. The trio has appeared in numerous events in Los Angeles, Japan, and nationally in the U.S. They have released four albums: Sorin, Wakyo, Zen Garden, and Medeta.
Takeshi Nakayama is a free-lance journalist who lives in Walnut, Calif. He has written articles for the Nikkei West, Nichi Bei Times, Gardena Valley News and many other publications, and is a former editor at the Rafu Shimpo.