Spreading the Power of Doyo
Infectious Japanese children's songs become the new ambassador of culture.
A lilting song about dragonflies could make a grown man cry. The sweet melodies insidiously lock into your brain and rest dormant until you hear it tickling in the background of a Japanese television commercial. Then the tears flow.
Yes, they're just Japanese children songs - doyo. But purists argue they are so much more.
Although simple at first brush, doyo songs carry deeper meanings of identity and dislocation. The song, "Yashi no Mi" or "The Little Coconut" tells of the story of how the little tropical fruit floated away from its mother tree to another island where it grew roots, but continued to dream of its home island.
"It's really special and fantastic," said Greg Irwin in an e-mail from Tokyo.
Irwin is the de facto ambassador of doyo. He has performed the traditional Japanese songs at New York's Lincoln Center and other venues in the U.S. and Japan, where he appears regularly on television and won the first-ever Doyo Culture Prize.
But there is a catch.
Irwin, who was born in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, looks more like "American Idol" runner-up Clay Aiken then what would be popularly considered a doyo master - if one existed. He has also translated the songs into English.
"A few people were of course turned off to the idea of the music being translated into English, but if they have the chance to hear me perform, they'd realize that my 'heart' is really in the music ..." said Irwin.
"I think I translated the songs to express the same feelings in English that are in the Japanese. If anything, the English [version] expands a bit on the story and the feelings."
Textbook Dysfunction, Disney Songs
Irwin's own expanded life story is also filled with dislocation. Irwin's father, older brother and sister were all singers and musicians, so growing up as the youngest child, he was just expected to sing.
"My mother cleaned buildings to pay for our voice lessons," said Irwin. "My mother liked to sing but my voice came from my father's side of the family. My heart and the poet in me came from my mother."
Irwin's beginning was not all auspicious.
"It turns out that about 90 percent of families are so-called dysfunctional. But ours was straight out of a textbook ... We had every kind of abuse in our family that is listed in the manual!"
During his studies at the University of Hawaii, Irwin's love affair with Japan began to flourish. He auditioned for Tokyo Disneyland the year it opened in 1986 and began his career belting out Disney classic tunes.
"At that time I knew nothing about doyo. Disneyland only played Disney music."
Getting to Know Doyo
Doyo are children's songs that were composed during the Taisho Era (1912-26) in a Western style. The country's greatest living poets and composers came together to create the songs. Because of the quality of the writers, a lot of the songs have much deeper meanings below the surface, said Irwin.
"Children can enjoy singing the songs and not catch the deeper meaning. Adults can sing along and relate to the underlying meaning. There is really nothing like doyo in America.
"We don't have children's songs in America that make adults cry when they hear them. A lot of our children's songs came from Europe. It's totally different. Most children's songs in America are just for children. Doyo appeals to all generations. That's a big difference," said Irwin.
Doyo songs are even popular in the U.S.
"They are the songs mothers sang to help [children] go to sleep," said Masayuki Koga, founder of the Japanese Music Institute of America in Berkeley, Calif. "Physically we get old, but our minds never get old. Doyo reminds us no matter how old still we can feel young."
Koga, 63, uses doyo to teach his youngest students the basics of Japanese classical music.
"It's helpful to translate [the story into English]. I explain the story in English so they can visualize instead of singing mechanically," he said.
Hisame Wakayagi, a longtime Japanese classical dance instructor in Orange County, Calif., also uses doyo to introduce young dancers to the complex classical world.
About translating doyo into English, she says it's a good idea.
"Really great songs can be sung in many languages. These songs are good enough to be well known all over the world. It's just that the Japanese people take the songs for granted and never realized they could be exported. By changing the words to English people who don't understand Japanese can enjoy the beauty of these wonderful songs," said Irwin.
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