Does anyone know about the Austrian banjo player John Gorman who was in Japan around 1910?

Hello everyone

Does anyone know about the Austrian banjo player Mr.John Gorman who was in Japan around 1910?

This is a concert program planned by John Gorman with Japanese in 1912.

http://fweb.midi.co.jp/~kmc/history/html/univ_rc_001.html

Most are Japanese, but do you understand?

They play composer songs that you know well.

This was the first concert in Japan's first mandolin club Keio University mandolin club (KMC).

KMC was founded in the English newspaper in Yokohama , The Japan Weekly Gazette, and John Gorman, an Australian who organized the Yokohama Banjo Club, saw Mita's mountain often with a banjo. Scores that were difficult to obtain were also provided mainly in English and American goods, and deepened friendship with the students in around 1910.

Judging from the selection of concerts, I think that John Gorman's instruction book from the UK at the time he taught to Japanese was a BMG-related book.

Does anyone know about the Austrian banjo player Mr.John Gorman.

My life work is to examine the influx of banjo music in Japan.

Thank you

 Satoshi Hara (Samurai Banjo)

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I think John Gorman must have been Australian, not Austrian.  There are many reasons to think so.

I am interested to know more about your life study of banjo in Japan. What is the earliest year that banjo is known to have been seen and heard in Japan?  I know mandolin has been in Japan for a very long time and that there are some very good players. Takashi Ochi, for instance, was an excellent player.

I'm sorry Jody. He is Australian. Automatic conversion error in English.

Jody Stecher said:

I think John Gorman must have been Australian, not Austrian.  There are many reasons to think so.

I am interested to know more about your life study of banjo in Japan. What is the earliest year that banjo is known to have been seen and heard in Japan?  I know mandolin has been in Japan for a very long time and that there are some very good players. Takashi Ochi, for instance, was an excellent player.

Hi everyone.

It's been two years since I wrote this article.

While there, I found the original concert program paper and learned more about John Gorman and this first joint banjo and mandolin concert in Japan.

John lived in the foreign settlement in Yokohama, married his Japanese wife, and was a naturalized Japanese citizen.

I then found his parents' house in Yokohama and was able to visit them for the first time yesterday.


You were able to visit John Gorman's parents? How old are they? John looks to be at least 20 years old in 1912. So if his parents are alive they must be each at least 130 years old.

Samurai Banjo said:

John lived in the foreign settlement in Yokohama, married his Japanese wife, and was a naturalized Japanese citizen.

I then found his parents' house in Yokohama and was able to visit them for the first time yesterday.

I'm sorry.
I didn't visit his parents' house, but
I visited the house he lived in before he died.
And I met his grandchildren.

Jody Stecher said:

You were able to visit John Gorman's parents? How old are they? John looks to be at least 20 years old in 1912. So if his parents are alive they must be each at least 130 years old.

Samurai Banjo said:

John lived in the foreign settlement in Yokohama, married his Japanese wife, and was a naturalized Japanese citizen.

I then found his parents' house in Yokohama and was able to visit them for the first time yesterday.

OH!  Do any of his grandchildren play banjo?

Samurai Banjo said:

I'm sorry.
I didn't visit his parents' house, but
I visited the house he lived in before he died.
And I met his grandchildren.

Jody Stecher said:

You were able to visit John Gorman's parents? How old are they? John looks to be at least 20 years old in 1912. So if his parents are alive they must be each at least 130 years old.

Samurai Banjo said:

John lived in the foreign settlement in Yokohama, married his Japanese wife, and was a naturalized Japanese citizen.

I then found his parents' house in Yokohama and was able to visit them for the first time yesterday.

Unfortunately, John Gorman (1888-1970) seems to have disposed of his instruments after World War II.

However, this first Japanese mandolin club concert held on May 12, 1912 was a very important concert in the history of mandolin influx in Japan, and there were many interviews with John Gorman afterwards.

This concert review was immediately by article in The Japan weekly Gazette, an English-language newspaper for the Yokohama settlement, dated May 31, 1912.

At the same time, B.M.G. magazine reportedly published a review of this concert in an article titled "The first mandolin concert in Japan".

So far, I have not been able to find that article in the back issues of B.M.G. magazine on this site.

.



Jody Stecher said:

OH!  Do any of his grandchildren play banjo?

Samurai Banjo said:

I'm sorry.
I didn't visit his parents' house, but
I visited the house he lived in before he died.
And I met his grandchildren.

Jody Stecher said:

You were able to visit John Gorman's parents? How old are they? John looks to be at least 20 years old in 1912. So if his parents are alive they must be each at least 130 years old.

Samurai Banjo said:

John lived in the foreign settlement in Yokohama, married his Japanese wife, and was a naturalized Japanese citizen.

I then found his parents' house in Yokohama and was able to visit them for the first time yesterday.

Thank you for your posts. The history of mandolin and banjo in Japan is interesting to me!

Samurai Banjo said:

Unfortunately, John Gorman (1888-1970) seems to have disposed of his instruments after World War II.

However, this first Japanese mandolin club concert held on May 12, 1912 was a very important concert in the history of mandolin influx in Japan, and there were many interviews with John Gorman afterwards.

This concert review was immediately by article in The Japan weekly Gazette, an English-language newspaper for the Yokohama settlement, dated May 31, 1912.

At the same time, B.M.G. magazine reportedly published a review of this concert in an article titled "The first mandolin concert in Japan".

So far, I have not been able to find that article in the back issues of B.M.G. magazine on this site.

.



Jody Stecher said:

OH!  Do any of his grandchildren play banjo?

Samurai Banjo said:

I'm sorry.
I didn't visit his parents' house, but
I visited the house he lived in before he died.
And I met his grandchildren.

Jody Stecher said:

You were able to visit John Gorman's parents? How old are they? John looks to be at least 20 years old in 1912. So if his parents are alive they must be each at least 130 years old.

Samurai Banjo said:

John lived in the foreign settlement in Yokohama, married his Japanese wife, and was a naturalized Japanese citizen.

I then found his parents' house in Yokohama and was able to visit them for the first time yesterday.

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