The phrase sparrow's tears in Japanese describes a very tiny amount of something. Suzumeno means sparrow's, and the band Suzumeno Tears got their name from this expression. These two women are both amazing singers and also play a number of instruments. They perform their arrangements of traditional folk music, largely from Japan, but also from Serbia and Bulgaria.

Since seeing them this summer, I've been listening to their CD a lot. I caught their performance at a pretty large venue, but they still play in smaller places like cozy bars. I’d love to see them perform in one of those intimate settings.

Shiiba Dachintsuke Bushi is my favorite and it comes from Shiiba-son, a little village in the mountains of Miyazaki Prefecture in southern Japan. You can listen to it here. After doing some research, I became interested in going to Shiiba-son, even though I had never heard of it before.

In Japan, the Genji clan and the Heike clan had severe battles in the late 12th century. The Genji clan eventually won, and survivors of the Heike clan scattered and went into hiding. Shiiba-son is one of the locations where Heike descendants are said to reside and is quite inaccessible. They seem to still preserve their performing arts, including folk songs, which is, I assume, because of their isolated environment.

While we've enjoyed our own music and dance across the world throughout history, sadly, traditional art forms struggle to survive in today's society where culture is often valued only if it can be commodified.