Music of the BIWA

(print by Utagawa Kunisada)

     The biwa (琵琶) is a 4-string lute (sometimes with a 5th string), originally imported from India and China (as the pipa) and then incorporated into the Gagaku orchestra as the Gaku-biwa (雅楽琵琶).  Its first incarnation as a solo instrument was the thinner Moso-biwa (盲僧琵琶), used by blind priests (biwa-hoshi) to accompany their Buddhist sutras (chants).  The moso-biwa tradition (also later called kojin-biwa) was popularized in the Heian period and is considered a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage.

    Due to its origins, biwa vocal accompaniment is naturally influenced by Buddhist chant, and this style was adapted to deliver historical stories (as narrative poetry).  Instrumentally, biwa technique stands out from most Western string instruments in that it's sound employs "sawari", a rattle/twang texture which is further manipulated by melodic string-bending (from pressing down on a string between frets).  The music itself is usually not melodic, but based on patterns of short, sharp arpeggios, tremolo drones and energetic strumming.  An original set of 13 set biwa phrase patterns has grown to over 23 in the modern heike-biwa tradition (below).

     Typically, the voice and biwa alternate and overlap in conversational interplay, with cadenza-like interludes sometimes surfacing.  For example, in many pieces after an opening cadenza the following pattern is repeated: an opening pitch is sounded by the biwa, followed by a vocal pattern related to that key, after which the biwa re-enters with the next "ground" pitch or, less-frequently, a musically-sympathetic response phrase, etc...  At some point both the vocal and the biwa join together in a climactic sequence (although not always).

Chinese pipa, mōsō-biwa, heike-biwa, satsuma-biwa and chikuzen-biwa

Styles:

• Moso-biwa (盲僧琵琶) was the style of biwa accompaniment employed by wandering blind priests from Heian times.  In this style, a thin-bodied biwa provides a fairly constant rhythmic backing, over which the Buddhist priest chant-sings sutras.
• Heike-biwa (平家琵琶, Heikyoku): In contrast to moso-biwa, the biwa elements here begin to act more as "commentary" or provide "sympathetic responses".  This style (scattered fast arpeggios and drones) is so-named because it was used to support recitations of the Heike Monogatari (Tale of the Heike).  In this adaptation of the epic Heike war poem, 200 verses are each phrased in a characteristic style.  At the time of its greatest popularity, Heike-biwa melded elements from the earlier Gagaku, Shomyo chant and moso-biwa traditions.  It is, however, rarely performed today in its original form.  
• Satsuma-biwa (薩摩琵琶): 
• This style was developed in 16th-century Kyushu, and uses a modified design of the moso-biwa.  The pick/plectrum is wide and fan-shaped, and its “gallant” style emphasizes percussive/twangy strikes (often with "back strokes"), extreme pitch bending, wide vibrato, left hand pizzicato, and flashy dramatic trills/tremolo (kuzure).  Generally speaking, it is influenced somewhat by shamisen technique, and is more melodic than Heike-biwa.
• Satsuma-biwa text is often based on war stories (adaptations of the Heike-Monogatari, such as "Atsumori no Saigo/The Death of Atsumori", "Dan no Ura" (climactic battle scene), etc), and the voice parts use enhanced end-vowel ornamentation as a stylistic device.  In comparison to Heike-biwa, voice and biwa play together more frequently (in sections called nagashimono). 
• Newer Satsuma styles include Nishiki Satsuma (using Tsuruta Kinshi's 5-string Tsuruta-biwa and featuring longer interludes), and Kinshin Satsuma (which explore other bold new forms including those utilizing shigin, or Chinese poems).

Heike-biwa (Heike story) text adapted for a Satsuma-biwa (Junko Ueda)


• Chikuzen-biwa (筑前琵琶): Popularized from the 19th Century Meiji era on, the modern Chikuzen-biwa style (as opposed to another, ancient style using the same name) is characterized as “delicate and graceful”.  It uses a smaller-size biwa with a thinner, tapered plectrum and is held more at an angle (like a shamisen).  Stylistically, Chikuzen-biwa stands out most clearly in the nagashimono voice and biwa duet sections, but other styles (including Heike-biwa and Satsuma-biwa) can be found in the call-and-response narrative portions.  Also employing a shamisen-like technique (such as from shamisen Gidayu-bushi), it is nonetheless less showy than Satsuma-biwa, and designed for smaller audiences in more private settings.

 

Chikuzen-biwa BYAKKOTAI 筑前琵琶 白虎隊

Singer - Takashima-ka-kun Dan ko

 
https://www.britannica.com/art/Japanese-music/Biwa-vocal-and-folk-music
BiwaVocab for Satsuma-Biwa (Sound Information System by Junko Ueda)
Japanese Music & Musical Instruments, William Malm, 1959
Biwa Wiki