Thursday, January 28, 2010

The Tsugaru Shamisen

The shamisen or samisen (Japanese: 三味線, literally "three flavor strings"), also called sangen (literally "three strings") is a three-stringed musical instrument played with a plectrum called a bachi.

Kunst and Jocko Domo, bringing japanese culture to Second Life presents this traditional shamisen:

 The Tsugaru Shamisen


Features:

  • 7 Songs (plus silent mode, tuning and practice song)
  • 3 Animations (playing, holding and sitting (only in rug))
  • Styles: Metals, Fabric, String, Wood, Sking, Itomaki all customizable with different textures to choose from!
  • Size Changer: Small, Medium, Large and "++", "--" buttons for fine adjustments.
  • A rez version is included to decorate your place. This version includes a holder with 2 shamisens
  • Rug: to play while sitted includes:
  • 3 Styles with 4 colors each: White, Black, Blue, Red
  • Sit height adjustment: we know that sit height is a pain in SL so, the rug includes a menu to adjust it.







You can buy or test this virtual instrument at my mainstore: Click to teleport
If you don't have a Second Life account you can make one for free by clicking here 


Credits:

Texturing, Sculpts and Sound Edition: Kunst Himmel
Scripting, Reasearch and Sound Edition: Kahiro Watanabe

Songs:

Tsugaru Shin Jonkara Bushi by Kyle Abbott (http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=fiddlefella#p/u/31/_SvkFglRoD4)

Kyle Abbott was kindly enough to borrow one of the songs for this shamisen, I've been following his youtube channel for a while so I thought it was a  good idea to do it. He built his own Tsugaru Shamisen and wrote a book about it! : The Shamisen of Japan:  http://shamisenofjapan.com/
Youtube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/fiddlefella

The rest of the song were taken from Tsugaru Shamisen by Takahashi Chikuzan a traditional shamisen player.









Kunst (Kunst Himmel)
Jocko Domo (Kahiro Watanabe)

December 2009