Bruce Smith is a street performer from Australia.
While looking for ways to make his show more enjoyable for his Japanese audience,
he discovered the attraction of the traditional Japanese street performance, chindon.
Chindon bands can be traced back to an Edo Period candy seller. The
dish-shaped bell and large and small drums produced the distinctive "chinchin
dondon" rhythm that lent itself to the name chindon. Other instruments
in the band included a samisen and clarinet. The bands were a common sight on
the streets of Japan until the 1950s. Bruce is studying chindon with Kojiro
Hayashi, one of Japan's leading chindon performers. However, when
Bruce concentrates on the rhythm, he forgets the song. And when he pays attention
to the song, he loses the rhythm. Will Bruce really be able to learn chindon ?
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