Machida Kashō (In Japanese: 町田嘉章, 1888–1981), also known as Kasho Machida, was a Japanese shamisen player,

ethnomusicologist Ethnomusicology is the study of music from the cultural and social aspects of the people who make it. It encompasses distinct theoretical and methodical approaches that emphasize cultural, social, material, cognitive, biological, and other dim ...

and

music critic ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' defines music criticism as "the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres". In this sense, it is a branch of mus ...

. As a researcher, Machida collected

folksongs Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has be ...

through Japan, creating several volumes of transcriptions and song notations of

min'yō , ''Nihon min'yō'', Japanese ''min'yō'' or Japanese folk music is a genre of traditional Japanese music. Characteristics Styles Many ''min'yō'' are connected to forms of work or to specific trades and were originally sung between work ...

from different regions of the country. He collected and record systematically disappearing rural songs. Machida directed his efforts to a movement of "new folk song'' that devised folk-like songs for matching musical commercialization.

Works

In 1940, Machida Kashô worked as editor of the record set ''Nihon min’you rekôdo'' (Japanese Folksongs Records, 1940), with three volumes of 10 discs. 300 songs of the discs were copied from other discs record by Machida previously. Between 1941 and 1942, Machida Kashô involved in the elaboration of the anthology of ''Nihon Ongaku-shu'' (Album of Japanese Music), focused on traditional music and created by the ''Kokusai Bunka Shinkô-kai'' (KBS, International Organization for the Promotion of Culture). Between 1944 and 1980, Machida created an anthology of nine volumes of transcriptions and song notations from

Hokkaido is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The la ...

Kyushu is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surroun ...

areas, released by Nippon Hôsô Kyôkai (NHK).

References

Japanese musicians Japanese ethnomusicologists 1888 births 1981 deaths 20th-century musicologists {{ethnomusicologist-stub