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Itsuki no Komoriuta (Lullaby from Itsuki)

Kojiro Umezaki
Audio
Itsuki no Komoriuta (Lullaby from Itsuki)
"Lullaby from Itsuki" is a folk melody from Kumamoto Prefecture in southern Japan. With lyrics, it is the lament of a young nursemaid sent away to be employed by a family of the noble class. Ironically, it is sung as a lullaby to the infant she nurses. Recognized as a favorite traditional melody in Japan, it has been adapted into the repertory of many other genres of Japanese music, for example, as presented here in a classical interpretation on a shakuhachi. (During, Levin 2001)