In September 2016, my friend and fellow musician Bill Newbold shared the MIDI file for a piece he was working up, entitled "Voices in the Head: As the Voices Chatter 1" (This original is included here as track #2. Keep in mind that both tracks on this album are realizations from the exact same MIDI file, with no notes changed at all.) I thought it might be fun to take Bill's MIDI file, keep all of his own notes, structure, and performance, but replace all of the actual instrument sounds, and remix the whole thing into a parallel yet new context. In my mind, the resulting sound called up the famous 19th-century supernatural Japanese kabuki play "Yotsuya Kaidan".
The condensed story as found in Wikipedia:
Act 1:
Tamiya Iemon, a rōnin, is having a heated exchange with his father-in-law, Yotsuya Samon, concerning Samon's daughter Oiwa. After it is suggested by Samon that Iemon and his daughter should separate, the ronin becomes enraged and murders Samon. The next scene focuses on the character Naosuke who is sexually obsessed with Oiwa's sister, the prostitute Osode, despite her being already married to another man, Satô Yomoshichi. As this scene begins, Naosuke is at the local brothel making romantic advances toward Osode when Yomoshichi and the brothel's owner, Takuetsu, enter. Unable to pay a fee demanded by Takuetsu, he is mocked by both Yomoshichi and Osode and forcibly removed. Shortly thereafter an intoxicated Naosuke murders Okuda Shôzaburô, his former master, whom he mistakes for Yomoshichi. This is implied to occur at the precise time of the slaying of Samon. It is at this point that Iemon and Naosuke unite and conspire to mislead Oiwa and Osode into believing that they will exact revenge on the people responsible for their father's death. In return Osode agrees to marry Naosuke.
Act 2:
Oume, the granddaughter of Itô Kihei, has fallen in love with Iemon. However, believing herself to be less attractive than Oiwa, she doesn't think Iemon will ever want to become her husband. Sympathizing with Oume's plight, the Itôs scheme to have Oiwa disfigured by sending her a topical poison disguised as a facial cream. Oiwa, unbeknownst to her at the time, is instantly scarred by the cream when she applies it. Upon seeing his wife's ghastly new countenance, Iemon decides he can no longer remain with her. He asks Takuetsu to rape Oiwa so that he will have an honorable basis for divorce. Takuetsu cannot bring himself to do this so, instead, he simply shows Oiwa her reflection in a mirror. Realizing that she has been deceived, Oiwa becomes hysterical and, picking up a sword, runs towards the door. Takuetsu moves to grab her but Oiwa, attempting to evade him, accidentally punctures her own throat with the sword's tip. As she lies bleeding to death before a stunned Takuetsu, she curses Iemon's name. Not long after, Iemon becomes engaged to Oume. Act 2 closes with Iemon being tricked by Oiwa's ghost into slaying both Oume and her grandfather on the night of the wedding.
Act 3:
The remaining members of the Itô household are annihilated. Iemon kicks Oyumi, the mother of Oume, into the Onbô Canal and Omaki, the servant of Oyumi drowns by accident. Naosuke arrives in disguise as Gonbei, an eel vendor, and blackmails Iemon into handing over a valuable document. Iemon contemplates his prospects while fishing at the Onbô canal. On the embankment above the canal Iemon, Yomoshichi and Naosuke appear to fumble as they struggle for possession of a note which passes from hand to hand in the darkness.
Act 4:
At the opening Naosuke is pressuring Osode to consummate their marriage, to which she seems oddly averse. Yomoshichi appears and accuses Osode of adultery. Osode resigns herself to death in atonement and convinces Naosuke and Yomoshichi that they should kill her. She leaves a farewell note from which Naosuke learns that Osode was his younger sister. For the shame of this, as well as for the killing of his former master, he commits suicide.
Act 5:
Iemon, still haunted by the ghost of Oiwa, flees to an isolated mountain retreat. There he rapidly descends into madness as his dreams and reality begin to merge and Oiwa's haunting intensifies. The act closes with Yomoshichi slaying Iemon out of both vengeance and compassion.
credits
released September 3, 2016
Cover: Katsushika Hokusai (葛飾北斎 / 1760-1849), Oiwa, from "Yotsuya Kaidan"
Composer, performer, recordist, connector, facilitator. Editor of Sequenza21.com, a long-running website reporting on
contemporary classical music.
Collaborator at ImprovFriday/Sound-In, a weekly web gathering of musicians from around the globe. NiwoSound is an umbrella for innovative art music / art sound....more
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