YASUAKI SHIMIZU

It is 15 years since the one-off Orochi film concert was held at the Jingu Kaikan hall in the leafy surrounds of Meiji Shrine in central Tokyo. Now, in response to the impassioned request of a 4K remastering project leader who heard that original performance, Shimizu has produced a soundtrack to accompany a screening of Orochi scheduled for 8 July on the satellite Jidaigeki Senmon Channel.

Buntaro Futagawa's Orochi (1925) was a seminal samurai swashbuckler, and career-defining film for actor Tsumasaburo Bando. In this remastering of the classic, new negatives have been unearthed, missing parts recovered and the frame rate adjusted, extending the film from the original 75 to 101 minutes. Shimizu has meticulously arranged and re-recorded all the music he wrote for the film concert.

Being a silent movie Orochi has no sound effects, and the music comes to the fore, becoming intimately entwined and entangled with the dynamic drama on screen, while Raiko Sakamoto's narration takes on an almost song-like quality.

8 July (Sat) 8pm

repeat broadcast: 30 July (Sun) 4am

https://www.jidaigeki.com/osusume/orochi/