Summary: This program explores the two great religions to come from India. "The historian of religion can find almost anything he wants in India, enacted with intensity. What remains is to carry its insight into everyday life. Smith uncovered the mysteries of multiphonic chanting among Tibetan lamas, previously unknown in the West. Characterizing these chants as "the holiest sound I have ever heard,"...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: With a gracefulness equal to its subject, this intriguing program goes behind the scenes to film for the first time the private world of kyomai, Kyoto-style dance. The efforts of the 95-year-old reigning master, Inoue Yachiyo IV, to prepare her 43-year-old granddaughter to become her successor are deftly captured amidst footage of training sessions and performances; rare film clips of Yachiyo...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: The biwa, a pear-shaped, wooden lute, is played using a triangular plectrum. With no structured tuning, the instrument is adjusted to complement the player's voice, allowing for a highly personalized music. This program showcases the sounds of one of Japan's oldest stringed instruments through performances by Yoshiko Sakata, a noted biwa player and composer who plays both traditional songs and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Since India's ancient times, music has been considered a potent vehicle for attaining nirvana, spiritual salvation. This intriguing program provides an overview of the history of Indian classical music, from its divine origins to the present day, showcasing popular stringed, wind, and percussion instruments such as the sitar, sarangi, veena, tambora, and sarod; the flute, shehnai, and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Written by 16th-century Chinese playwright Tang Xianzu, The Peony Pavilion is a 19-hour epic opera in 57 episodes that tells a story of youth and love literally triumphing over death. This program follows director Chen Shi-Zheng and the Shanghai Kunju Opera Troupe in their monumental effort of staging the entire production, an event that had not occurred in nearly four centuries. Despite...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Whether they were crafted to spread Mao's message of class struggle or spun from the fabric of everyday life, Chinese folk songs carry with them immense historical and cultural importance. This program examines a wide range of songs and melodies from the country's pre-Communist era to the Cultural Revolution, energized by a rich progression of archival footage, photographs, interviews, and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
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Summary: Tadao Sawai was Japan's greatest modern koto player, enjoying immense popularity and influencing a whole generation of musicians. His widow, Kazue Sawai, has become heir to his musical legacy and is one of the foremost players of this traditional instrument. In this program, Kazue discusses Tadao's playing and how she has integrated modern music into her own repertoire. In addition to...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: This loving portrait of Ravi Shankar shows us the totality of Shankar's art, the inner peace from which the fiery dexterity emerges, the philosophy that underlies the shape of raga, and the characteristics of the sitar, tabla, santur, sarod, and sarangi. We see and hear him play and talk: in Europe and America, with Yehudi Menuhin, Zubin Mehta, Jean-Pierre Rampal, and George Harrison, and at...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: The shakuhachi, a kind of wooden flute, was introduced to Japan sometime between the 8th and 12th centuries and was used in court music as well as in Buddhist monasteries as a vehicle for enlightenment. This program features performances and discussion by Shozan Tanabe, one of Japan's most recognized players of the shakuhachi. Along with recordings of his music, Tanabe talks about the history...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Hideaki Kuribayashi was a disciple of koto legend Tadao Sawai and is considered the finest living player of this traditional Japanese stringed instrument. In this program, interviews with Kuribayashi are intercut with performances from his concerts in Nagano and Kyoto in 2000. Kuribayashi comments on the history and art of koto music and discusses the creation of his own original musical...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Michihiro Sato is considered the finest player of the Tsugaru shamisen, a traditional three-stringed instrument of the Tsugaru province integral to Japanese folk music. This program combines live performances by Sato at the Otsu Traditional Performing Arts Center with the musician's commentary on the history and role of the shamisen player, a door-to-door minstrel of a bygone era. Sato also...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006