去年の初め夫がベッド生活になってから、
毎朝手持ちの音楽CDを片端から聞いていたのだが
秋にはほぼ聞き終わり、今度は落語のCDを聞いている。
談志の「ひとり会」のボックス４箱をやっつけ、八代目文楽を聞き、今は圓生だ。
私たちが子どものころは落語は身近で、私は当時寄席には行かなかったけど
志ん生、三平、談志、円楽、円鏡、歌丸といった人たちの声が
しょっちゅうラジオやテレビから聞こえていた。
とはいえその頃はうまい、下手など全然分かっていなかったのは当然のこと。
今改めて３０代の談志の芸を聞くと、そのレベルの高さに舌を巻く。
そして、彼が圓生をよく研究していたことにも気がついた。
幸い、生の談志は夫と一緒に何回か聴く機会があって、
「簡単には笑わないぞ」という客との緊張感がすごいこととか、
あの強気の言動が目立つ談志なのに、お辞儀が誰よりも深々と心のこもったものだということに強い印象を受けた。
談志、文楽、圓生と聞いてきて、同じ噺も入っているのだが、
それぞれがそれぞれに面白く、知っている噺なのにやっぱり笑ってしまう。
一昨日の晩、そんな同じ噺の一つをラジオ深夜便でやっていた。
演者は現代の噺家だったのだけど、これが、悪いけど全然面白くなかった。
なんというか、人物がそこにいるように立ち上がってこない。
確かに今の人にとって、長屋の暮らしぶりをリアリティをもって語るというのは至難の業だろうけれど、談志だって江戸時代の御武家さんの様子は見たことなんかなかっただろうし、彼がそれを語ることができたのは噺の技として受け継がれてきたものによったのだろうと思う。
そんな折、TBSでドラマ「赤めだか」が放送された。
「赤めだか」は談志の弟子の談春が修行時代を書いた同名の本が原作。
その中で、弟子になったばかりの談春のけいこで談志が
「リズムとメロディーなんだよ。これからは俺のリズムとメロディーでやれ」
と言うシーンがあった。
落語に「リズムとメロディー」とは独特の言い方だから、これは本当に談志が言った言葉だろう。
ああ、そういうことかと私には腑に落ちるものがあった。
「間合い」とか「息遣い」とかいうものと、たぶんそれは重なっているのだろうけれど、リズムとメロディーをきっちり写して演じることが、噺を身につけるということで、それが人を楽しませる噺になる。それを談志自身が学んできて、伝えようとしていたのだろう。このタイミングでこのドラマを見ることができてよかったと思った。
それにしても、落語からは歴史や日本語について学ぶことが多い。
時代が変わってやりにくくなる噺もあるけれど、良い噺は語り継いでいって欲しいものだ。
2015年12月24日木曜日
At Christmas
On Christmas Eve, I passed our local shopping center, and saw many people forming looooong queues to buy... Christmas cake. Yes, in Japan we have "Christmas cake," which is an essential part of Christmas for most Japanese.
It was not until when I was over 40 that I realized that, for average Japanese, Christmas is the day to put up Christmas tree and eat chicken roast and Christmas cake, and that they don't give a damn at the fact that what they think are indispensable to celebrate Christmas are actually accessories and have little to do with the essence of Christmas.
I had assumed that people were just taking advantage of capitalism and the age of plenty, knowing the true meaning of Christmas. But, No, they just didn't care.
When they import seasonal events from foreign culture, Japanese people tend to pick out only the things they feel "nice" and often turn their eyes away from their essence.
Valentine's Day is the day for women to buy chocolates for men (or, nowadays, more expensive ones for themselves), and Halloween is the day to wear strange costumes on the street.
This habit of turning one's eyes away from the essence of the matter reminds me of the fact that our people have failed to look straight at our defeat in the war in 1945. Have we not faced up with our past because it is our habit not to look at the essence of the matter, or we tend to pick out only the accessories of events because we haven't come to terms with the defeat just yet? I don't know which is which, but I cannot help thinking that there is some connection.
In the Christmas Eve service that I attended today, they read Luke 2:1-21.
This part is always read at Christmas, and I almost remember the verses. (well, if you have ever sung Messaiah, you learn it by heart) The most impressive verse to me since my childhood is"because there was no room for them in the inn." Christmas for me has been the time to be questioned of what I have done to "the smallest of these" rather than pure celebration.
I just made small contribution to WFP and UNHCR, thinking of Middle Eastern families deprived of the right to leading peaceful life, hoping His favor rests on my action.
Merry Christmas!
It was not until when I was over 40 that I realized that, for average Japanese, Christmas is the day to put up Christmas tree and eat chicken roast and Christmas cake, and that they don't give a damn at the fact that what they think are indispensable to celebrate Christmas are actually accessories and have little to do with the essence of Christmas.
I had assumed that people were just taking advantage of capitalism and the age of plenty, knowing the true meaning of Christmas. But, No, they just didn't care.
When they import seasonal events from foreign culture, Japanese people tend to pick out only the things they feel "nice" and often turn their eyes away from their essence.
Valentine's Day is the day for women to buy chocolates for men (or, nowadays, more expensive ones for themselves), and Halloween is the day to wear strange costumes on the street.
This habit of turning one's eyes away from the essence of the matter reminds me of the fact that our people have failed to look straight at our defeat in the war in 1945. Have we not faced up with our past because it is our habit not to look at the essence of the matter, or we tend to pick out only the accessories of events because we haven't come to terms with the defeat just yet? I don't know which is which, but I cannot help thinking that there is some connection.
In the Christmas Eve service that I attended today, they read Luke 2:1-21.
This part is always read at Christmas, and I almost remember the verses. (well, if you have ever sung Messaiah, you learn it by heart) The most impressive verse to me since my childhood is"because there was no room for them in the inn." Christmas for me has been the time to be questioned of what I have done to "the smallest of these" rather than pure celebration.
I just made small contribution to WFP and UNHCR, thinking of Middle Eastern families deprived of the right to leading peaceful life, hoping His favor rests on my action.
Merry Christmas!
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