samisen

[sam-uh-sen]

noun

1. a guitarlike Japanese musical instrument having an extremely long neck and three strings, played with a plectrum.

samisen

/ ˈsæmɪˌsɛn /

noun

1. a variant of shamisen

Word History and Origins

Origin of samisen¹

1610–20; < Japanese < Middle Chinese, equivalent to Chinese sānxia three-string banjo

Example Sentences

The music underscoring the monologue is both haunting and jarring, and it mixes in sounds from traditional Japanese theater like wooden clappers and samisen, a traditional stringed instrument.

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Musicians represented a global palette of sounds: the Japanese samisen, African djembe and Congo drums, harp, saxophone, accordion and violin.

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The program will include excerpts from his latest album, “Finding Friends Far From Home: A Journey With Clara Net,” in which she makes acquaintances like the mbira in Zimbabwe and the samisen in Japan.

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“Ryeui is also a singer and samisen player who happens to be handsome, and to have studied the healing effects of tears,” says Thoms.

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Although they were playing a single work together, the sounds you heard — the wheeze of a piccolo, a muffled trumpet, the plucking of a samisen — felt independent.

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