Janet Pocorobba, author of The Fourth String: A Memoir of Sensei and Me will be doing a special shamisen performance and reading from her upcoming memoir at The Japan Society in New York March 19th.
The Allure of the Shamisen: A Japanese Musical Tradition
Tuesday, March 19, 6:30 PM
Played as accompaniment to kabuki plays and traditional puppet theater or by geisha, the three-stringed shamisen has been an integral part of traditional Japanese music for centuries. Janet Pocorobba, author of The Fourth String: A Memoir of Sensei and Me, took a more unconventional path, apprenticing under her eccentric sensei while living abroad in Japan. At this talk, Pocorobba will discuss the history and features of the shamisen, illuminate her own journey learning to play this enigmatic Japanese instrument, and give a demo performance.Followed by a book-signing reception.Tickets: $15/$12 members, seniors & students
About The Fourth String
The word sensei in Japanese literally means “one who came before,” but that’s not what Janet Pocorobba’s teacher wanted to be called. She used her first name, Western-style. She wore a velour Beatles cap and leather jacket, and she taught foreigners, in English, the three-stringed shamisen, an instrument that fell out of tune as soon as you started to play it. Vexed by the music and Sensei’s mission to upend an elite musical system, Pocorobba, on the cusp of thirty, gives up her return ticket home to become a lifelong student of her teacher. She is eventually featured in Japan Cosmo as one of the most accomplished gaijin, “outside people,” to play the instrument.
Part memoir, part biography of her Sensei, The Fourth String looks back on the initial few years of that apprenticeship, one that Janet’s own female English students advised her was “wife training,” steeped in obedience, loyalty, and duty. Even with her maverick teacher, Janet is challenged by group hierarchies, obscure traditions, and the tricky spaces of silence in Japanese life.