Banquet Songs
Songs of this group are popular verses sung at drinking parties, wedding banquets and on occasions of farewell. Dances are usually performed to their accompaniment, while the people sitting about the room clap their hands in rhythm with the playing of the samisen and join in the refrain as a chorus.
There are several characteristics of the banquet songs which may be noted here.
- An introduction, usually the most formal part of the song and never improvised, sung by the samisen player. This opening song is usually in the regular twenty-six syllable dodoitsu form. Example: Song 1.
- A verse or two sung very rapidly which may be joined in by the others and which is often improvised on the spur of the moment—a jibe at some one present or a humorous comment on a local situation.
- The hayashi, a verse spoken very quickly in a special rhythm and voice by the samisen player and accompanied by occasional bangs on her instrument. The hayashi is open to improvisation, is irregular in form and of no set length. It is usually marked by humor and a strong local dialect. Koisa! koisa! koisa! is often added after a particularly funny hayashi, especially if anyone is dancing. Example: Song 4.
- The refrain. This may be “yoiya sa” or some other meaningless phrase added at the end of a song. Sometimes a loud “ha ha ha” is added to a hayashi in the heat of excitement. All present join in the refrain.
- The final vowels at the end of a phrase or line are frequently heavily accented or lengthened and terminated by a glottal stop.
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