Akita Mago Uta National Competition

The Akita Mago Uta National Competition (秋田馬子唄全国大会) is held in the building next to my board of education every year. And this year I was given free tickets to go. I was a bit sceptical after the Honjo Oiwake competition we had been to in August but Paul and myself decided to go check it out anyway.

The concert started in the morning but we decided not to go until the afternoon. And when we arrived I was surprised to find that the venue was quite full. We had to stand in the door, and couldn't really see the stage. I spoke to a guy from Yamaguchi ken way down south. He was just after singing in the competition. He told me that Mago uta means packhorse driver song. It is a folk song. I asked if everyone was going to sing only that one song, and sure enough they were!

The brochure we had received on the way in listed close to 200 entrants! Fair play to any judge who can listen to the same song that amount of times! We stayed for only a short while, maybe 5 or 6 entrants and left!