TalkFriday 23 February 2024
6:00pm – 7:00pm
Kimigayo and the Meiji Musical Aesthetic
Drinks reception: 7:00pm – 8:00pm
13/14 Cornwall Terrace, Outer Circle (entrance facing Regent's Park), London NW1 4QP
the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation Organised by
Daiwa Scholarship alumnus Simon Cosgrove guided us through the fascinating story of Kimigayo, one of the world’s most enigmatic national anthems, an 11-bar composition written in an ancient Japanese mode with no final cadence. We discovered how a British military bandmaster was the catalyst for Japan’s first national anthem, and how the music of Kimigayo was shaped by the cultural and social changes of the Meiji Period. Kimigayo was be presented as a key to unlocking the Meiji musical aesthetic, and its influence on later national anthems around the world were examined.
PRESENTATION BY SIMON COSGROVE
*Please note: as the presentation file is in pdf format, the embedded media files cannot be played, please watch the recording of this event below for the full presentation.
About the contributor
Simon Cosgrove
Simon Cosgrove is Associate Professor and Head of Liberal Arts at Joshibi University of Art and Design, where he teaches music history. Simon moved to Tokyo as a Daiwa Scholar in 2003, after graduating as a prizewinner from Cambridge University. He won the Walter Todds Bursary as a finalist in the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition, and he continues to perform as a professional jazz musician in Japan and around the world, having appeared with the Duke Ellington Orchestra, Jamie Cullum and Seiko Matsuda, in addition to releasing four albums under his own name. Simon also plays the shakuhachi, and his academic research focuses on the development of Japanese popular music after the Meiji Restoration.