Archive for the ‘Shop’
Tradition, Electrified: Shamisen Katoh
Last week we brought you the story of a pair of electric guitar makers, and we’re continuing this week with a story of another musical instrument manufacturer. We wanted to contrast a modern stringed instrument, the electric guitar, with a more traditional one, the shamisen. As a result, we wound up paying a visit to Shamisen Katoh. The shop is in an old-fashioned part of Tokyo called Arakawa-ku, where an old streetcar is still in service. The twang of a shamisen can be heard echoing through this faintly nostalgic world. But that sound is a little different than a regular shamisen. It’s got electricity running through it! An electric shamisen? Hmmm sounds kind of exotic! Not only that, but it turns out some of the biggest names in the shamisen world are patrons at this very shop.
