Various - 勸進帳 (Kabuki: Traditional Japanese Music: Kanjincho)

勸進帳 (Kabuki: Traditional Japanese Music: Kanjincho)
市川團十郎 (Ichikawa Danjuro) / 片岡孝夫 (Kataoka Takao)/ 中村扇雀 (Nakamura Senjaku) and others
Japan (1990)
KABUKI/ JAPANESE TRADITIONAL

"Without a doubt, "Kanjincho" (The Subscription List), first performed in 1840, is one of the most popular plays in the kabuki repertory. It is based on the noh play Ataka and depicts the flight of the general Minamoto Yoshitsune from his brother Yoritomo, the shogun, after the two have had a falling out. On this journey, Yoshitsune is saved many times by the strength and resourcefulness of his companion Benkei, a powerful warrior priest.
The play is one of the last great examples of nagauta music and contains a great variety of styles from noh-style chanting to pure nagauta in the lyrical sections to touches of heroic narrative styles in the passages that describe actions. There is also a musical quality to the declamation of the actors, the strong tones of Kenkei, the gentle elegance of Yoshitsune and the nobility of Tgoshi. It is the relationship between these three charaters that creates the drama of this play."