What's new

Aslı Karayel

Registered
11 Mar 2018
3
0
17
Hi peeps!
I'm a musician from Turkey who is soon travelling to Japan for a symposium and I will be talking about Turkish folk and modern music but as a little spice I thought I could make a mash up of a Japanese and a Turkish folk song to perform. I did a bit of a research but given how little others can learn from Google on Turkish music, I was skeptical. So I would immensely appreciate it if you could give me some recommendations and stories behind them if you know anything.

This is my first time in the country as well as my first time being a spokesperson, I am quite nervous. I'd love some advice on how Japanese university students are, like do they like J-pop? Do they like memes? Can I talk about anime? I'm always more on the humorous side and I also understand that every country has their limits when it comes to that. I wouldn't want to offend them.

If you'd like to communicate more thoroughly, feel free to message me! I really don't know how to use a forum.
 
Will you give the speech in English? Will there be translation into Japanese? (Simultaneous, consecutive?)
How many students will there be? What year are they in? What do they study?

Anime and J-Pop references should mostly work. Memes not so much. Look up the Japanese names of animes if you're making a specific reference and if your speech is not translated.

Avoid irony as this is hard to get across linguistic and cultural barriers.

As for folk music in Japan, here is a list of artists: 日本のフォークシンガー - Wikipedia You can copy and paste them into Youtube to find something you like.

This song was a big hit in 2010 apparently:
 
Thank you for the reply!

The speech will be in English, there won't be simultaneous translation. The ages are between 18 and 35, I imagine. There could be some post-grad students who are above that. The presentations we prepared are going to be available to the entire university. I have no idea how many people there'd be, it will be in the University of Tokyo though.

I like the song you linked. However the reason I came here instead of Wikipedia is because I wanted to find out the songs people are attached to or at least know about. Are you a student?
 
Are you a student?

No, I teach at a university in Tokyo.

The speech will be in English, there won't be simultaneous translation.

If you were invited to give a speech without translation then I guess that a) it will be a rather small group and b) professors will bring students from the English language/literature departments.

If I were you I would still assume that the English level of my audience is not too high and keep it short and simple.

The ages are between 18 and 35, I imagine. There could be some post-grad students who are above that.

Post-grad, i.e. in an MA or PhD course usually means up to 28 at the most. Unless you know that professors will bring grad students assume that you have a young audience (18-22).

I like the song you linked. However the reason I came here instead of Wikipedia is because I wanted to find out the songs people are attached to or at least know about.

Folk (music by singer-songwriters) is a niche genre and not often represented in the mass media. The song that I linked by Uemura Kana was the most recent "hit" that I could find. You will be fine not worrying about songs that your audience might know or be attached to.
 
Thank you again for your time, professor.
Here are the musicians I already like, I might just go from there. Do people generally know about Meiko Kaji, Yoko Kanno, Michiru Oshima?
 
Back
Top Bottom