Goze - Songs

Songs

The repertory of most goze has been lost, but songs of goze from Niigata, Nagano, Saitama, and Kagoshima prefectures have been recorded. The vast majority of these recordings are from what is today Niigata prefecture.

The repertory of Niigata (Echigo) goze can be divided into several distinct categories:

• Saimon matsusaka (祭文松坂?). Long strophic songs in a 7-5 syllable meter, often based on archaic tales, sometimes with a Buddhist message. The melody to which these texts are sung were probably a variant of the Echigo folk song Matsusaka bushi. These songs were probably created during the eighteenth century, though elements of the texts are no doubt far older. They were usually only transmitted from one goze to another.
• Kudoki (口説?). Long strophic songs in a 7-7- syllable meter. Texts usually feature double love-suicides or some other melodramatic and sometimes newsworthy theme. The melody to which these texts were sung is a variant of the Echigo folk song Shinpo kōdaiji (新保広大寺?). Kudoki did not appear until the mid-nineteenth century. Although they were a highly typical goze song, they were sometimes also sung by other types of performers.
• Songs performed before doorways (門付け唄, kadozuke uta?). A functional designation applying to any song used by goze as they made their way from door to door collecting donations. Goze usually sang whatever inhabitants of a given area wished to hear, but in the Niigata goze repertory some unique songs were used exclusively for such purposes.
• Folk songs (民謡, min'yō?). Rural songs, usually with no known composer, learned by the populace informally. Many types of folk songs constituted an important part of the goze repertory, and were especially useful in livening up parties when goze were summoned to perform.
• "Classical" or "semi-classical" songs. Besides the genres listed above, most goze also knew a songs belonging to genres such as nagauta, jōruri, hauta, or kouta. Such songs were often learned from professional musicians outside the goze community.