Name: Mitsune
Members: Shiomi Kawaguchi (Shamisen, Vocals), Youka Snell (Shamisen, Vocals), Tina Kopp (Shamisen, Vocals), Petros Tzekos (Percussion), Daigo Nakai (Bass)
Nationality: Japanese/Japanese-Australian (Shiomi Kawaguchi, Daigo Nakai, Youka Snell), German (Tina Kopp), Greek (Petros Tzekos)
Occupation: Shamisen ensemble
Recent event: Mitsune will perform at Detect Classic Festival which will take place August 11th-13th at Bröllin castle in Fahrenwalde, Germany. More information and tickets here.

Tool of Creation: Shamisen
Type of Tool: Plucked stringed instrument
Country of origin: Japan
Became available in: Around the 16th century.

If you enjoyed this interview with Mitsune about the shamisen and would like to explore the ensemble's music in more depth, visit their official website. They are also on Instagram, and Facebook.



Some see instruments merely as tools towards creativity, others feel they go hand in hand. What's your take on that?

Shiomi: Although I have played other instruments, I believe that I have a particularly spiritual relationship with the shamisen. This feeling has been the same since the first time I touched the shamisen as a child. The characteristics of the shamisen as an instrument have also influenced my personality.

Even though I rarely go back to Japan now, the sound of the shamisen always reminds me of the Japanese landscape, the mountains and rivers, the sea, the wind and the people, so I don't get homesick.

In the light of picking your instrument, how would you describe your views on topics like originality and innovation vs perfection and timelessness in music? Are you interested in a “music of the future” or “continuing a tradition”?

Shiomi: As a traditional musician, I am always aware of the concept of the inheritance of tradition and the desire for future music. But still, an instrument is an instrument, sound is always around us in our lives and, fundamentally, it is the vibration of the air that colours our moods.

So in the end, I am interested in what expression I can make through the shamisen in the present.

What was your first encounter with the shamisen? What was it about it that drew you in?

Shiomi: I first heard the shamisen in real life at a folk music class in my town, which I entered as a child when I heard I could get sweets. I always liked crafts and played with rubber bands and empty boxes to make things like guitars, so when I held my first stringed instrument, the shamisen, in my hands, I was very moved. It is a craftsman's instrument.

There were many years after that when I didn't play the shamisen, but one day when I thought about it again, the emotion and excitement of those days came back and I was hooked on Shamisen again.

Just like any other instrument, the shamisen has a rich history. What are some of the key points from this history for you personally?

Shiomi: Goze-shamisen-playing by blind people. When I think about Goze, who travelled while playing congratulatory songs and storytelling about their lives, it brings tears to my eyes to think how difficult those times must have been.

I have played the shamisen during my years of travelling, I think about them.  I realise that music is a tool to connect people.

What, to you, are some of the most interesting shamisen recordings and -performances by other artists in terms of your personal development?

Youka: We were all particularly inspired by an album called YO - Weaving One World by Yutaka Oyama (Tsugaru Shamisen), Akihisa Kominato (Shakuhachi) and Ty Burhoe (Tabla).

Individually they are all masters of their instruments and came together as a trio to create an album of amazing compositions. The textures of these three instruments together is very pleasing, we’ve listened to it countless times in the car on the way to gigs.

When talking about electronic devices, we often think about their “features”. But the shamisen is a complex device, too. What are some of its stand-out features from your point of view? How would you describe its sonic potential?

Youka: The shamisen is interesting in that it is both a stringed instrument and a percussion instrument in one.

The instrument’s corpus is essentially a drum - a wooden frame with skin stretched over both sides. You use the bachi (plectrum) in a different way from a guitar - rather than strumming or plucking the notes, you strike down on the string and the drum simultaneously. The strike of each note is like an arrow to the heart every time, which I think is part of the magic of the shamisen.

Another important feature is the ‘sawari’, which is a screw that lightly touches the lowest string to prolong the natural vibrations across the whole instrument, almost like the sympathetic strings of a sitar. The instrument does not have much sustain, so this sawari buzzing helps to sustain the notes a little more.

In terms of compositional potential – the instrument is fretless, therefore, despite the traditional use of pentatonic and diatonic scales in Japanese traditional music, shamisen actually lends itself to microtonal playing. You can also tune the 3 shamisen strings to any notes you like, so there is opportunity for unorthodox tunings.

Instrument design is an ongoing process. Are you interested in recent developments for the shamisen in this respect?

Shiomi: Yes – artificial skins, acrylic bachi (plectrum) and itomaki (pegs).

I respect engineers and technological advances for materials that replace animal materials without compromising sound quality.

Tell me about the process of learning to play the instrument and your own explorations with it.

Youka: The three of us each have our own stories of arriving at the shamisen – Shiomi was learning Min’yo (Japanese folk music) and shamisen from a young age, whereas Tina and I both came to the instrument in adulthood after playing guitar and violin respectively.

I won’t speak for the others, but for me, the inspiration to learn shamisen originated long ago, somewhere in my subconscious. I am half-Japanese, grew up in Australia, and have always been reaching for a connection to my Japanese side. As a professional violinist, I knew music would be my way in, so this was a natural journey for me.

All three of us approach the instrument in a rather “un-traditional” way these days, which I think is partially because of our cultural backgrounds and own histories with migration, mixed race, and musical influences.

What are specific challenges in terms of playing the shamisen?

Shiomi: I think it is the same with any tool, be it a musical instrument, a paintbrush or a carving knife, but I think it is whether I can produce the images and feelings I have in mind in the way I want them to.

In concrete terms, I am searching every day to find out what kind of sounds the shamisen can make and what kind of role it plays.

What interests you about the shamisen in terms of it contributing to your creative ideals? How do you see the relationship between your instrument and the music you make?

Youka: It’s incredibly interwoven. The shamisen is the backbone of Mitsune – without it, this project would not exist. Our basic mission statement is to spread the magic of shamisen around the world, and to create a “neo-folklore” that is alive, rather than a relic.

The shamisen is the conduit between past and present, our storytelling tool, the wellspring of inspiration, and our sonic hallmark.

How would you describe your personal style of playing the shamisen?

Youka: Psychedelic math-metal trance.

What does playing your instrument feel like, what do you enjoy about it, what are your own physical limits and strengths?

Shiomi: It feels good to feel the sound vibration in my stomach. Practising to play each note the way I want it to be played is challenging, but I feel good because there is definite progress. It's a good feeling, because this world is full of uncertainty for me.

Sometimes I don't like to talk, so I really enjoy playing with other people because it takes the place of communication. Since I was a child, my finger joints sometimes get stiff, so fast finger turns feel difficult. My strength is that I like this instrument very much.

Could you describe working with the shamisen on the basis of one of your pieces, live performances or albums that's particularly dear to you, please?

Youka: On our new EP, which is coming out later this year, we built the entire musical theme around a single note played in a rhythmic way that only shamisen can achieve. It’s a combination of bachi (plectrum / right hand) technique and finger (left hand) technique that creates a fast nontuplet that loops continually to create a rhythmic trance.

What I love the most about shamisen in comparison to the violin are the rhythmic possibilities, it’s so much fun!

How, would you say, does the shamisen interact with other instruments from ensembles/groups you're part of?

Youka: It’s sometimes a little tricky to work with concert-tuned instruments. The shamisen is quite sensitive and the tuning moves around a lot depending on temperature, humidity etc. We basically have to re-tune between every song to stay in tune with other instruments.

Traditionally, the shamisen is often paired with voice and percussion, which works well because there is more flexibility there. Also when we play as a shamisen trio, we tend to ignore concert pitch and just tune to one another.

Are there other shamisen players whose work with their instrument you find inspiring? What do you appreciate about their take on it?

Youka: Hibiki Ichikawa, Reigen Fujii, Etsuro Ono, Nitta Masahiro, Noriko Tadano – to name a few. These are all shamisen players who have excelled within the traditional structures of learning and presenting shamisen in Japan, but have branched out with their own contemporary compositions and other styles like jazz and blues.



I’m not such a fan of shamisen mixed with electro-pop or midi rock backing tracks, so these are the shamisen artists whose musical choices I really admire.