NOH DRUMMING, NOH PHILOSOPHY @ SF STUDIO

Shinosuke Okura plays o-tsuzumi, the "big hand drum" that is the principal accompaniment of the spare, poetic dramatic form of Noh, classical Japanese tragedy. Along with the smaller ko-tsuzumi and the nohkan, a shrill transversal flute--and occasionally one or two small stick drums (taiko)--the o-tsuzumi player lays the groundwork for the martial arts-like movements of the Noh actors, and adds to the sonic atmosphere of the drama with plaintive calls.

But Okura is also known for his travels, playing with musicians of many kinds around the world, and for his love of improvisation. He's performed with American Indian musicians, free jazz players and Korean music masters.

He'll play in San Francisco at 8 p. m. Saturday, March 18, at the Mary Sano Studio of Duncan Dance, 245 Fifth St. #314, between Howard and Folsom Sts., 2 1/2 blocks south of Market. He'll be joined in performance by Mary Sano, a premiere interpreter of Isadora Duncan's pioneer form of modern dance. For further information and tickets, call (415) 357-1817. The event is co-sponsored by the Consul-General of Japan.

Okura will also hold a seminar/workshop in the philosophy and aesthetics of Noh music and performance, 1-4 p.m. Sunday March 19, at the same location. Both musicians and nonmusicians are encouraged to come. Special rates apply for those attending both performance and workshop.

The techniques and aesthetics of Noh have been passed from generation to generation for 600 years and more. Noh artists grow up and work in a special environment, and their interpretation of their art often differs from academic conceptions. It's unusual for a player of Okura's background and breadth of experience to talk intensively about his thought and practice, as well as demonstrate it, outside the context of the theater in Japan.

Originating in masked Shinto rituals, Buddhist practices and performance, the legacy of folk and popular song and dance as well as classical Gagaku music and Bugaku dance--and other influences from throughout ancient Asia--Noh was developed into high art from a tradition of temple and festival entertainments by Kanami and his son Zeami, during the Ashikaga Shogunate. With sumptuous costumery and often-masked lead performers, Noh's dramaturgy demands a bare stage, with chorus and musicians in plain view, stories composed from myth and legend in elegant lyric poetry that's chanted and declaimed in stylized fashion, acted out with rigorous movement and dance that telegraphs the inner meaning of the drama hypnotically to the audience's imagination, with a dreamlike elegance that can unfold in subtle realization.

Mary Sano, who has performed before with her friend Shinosuke Okura, is a native of Japan who practices, teaches and choreographs in the style of Isadora Duncan, founding her studio ten years ago in Isadora's home town. She has taken her troupe of Duncan Dancers to festivals and celebrations around the world, and is now creating dance dramas to extend the range of this pioneer form of modern dance. Her studio has been for years one of the most intimate venues for unusual performances of different styles in the performing arts, often sharing the same program. Regular events include the annual Dionysian Festival to celebrate Isadora's birthday in May.