Sunday, May 23, 2010

“Beat and Wind” from Japanasia



Feb 20 2010
We saw this advertised just a few days before it happened – a special event organised by the Japanese Embassy. We didn’t have much information about it except the title, but as an avid fan of live Taiko (drumming) from Japan, we signed up for the bus that was going to it without hesitation. Bill hasn’t seen Taiko drumming before but was easily convinced he’d enjoy it.

The concert was quite different to what I’d expected – I thought it would be like a Kodo show (a hugely popular Taiko group in Japan) with lots of drumming on traditional taiko drums – in a very Japanese style. Although there were a few taiko, there wasn’t any of the size you’d see in Japan (I guess flying those big drums around the world isn’t that practical) and the music was less Japanese than Central Asian. However, despite this, it was still a fantastic concert that we both thoroughly enjoyed.

Japanasia consisted of just three musicians – Ryutaro Kaneko was the leader & the taiko drummer, Yasukazu Kano played a Japanese flute –the shinobue and finally Haruhiko Saga played Central Asian “violins” and even did some throat singing!

After the opening act when all three performed, the most wonderful Angolan group came on stage – unfortunately I don’t know what they were called. They also did lots of drumming (and some singing & dancing) & were so spectacular that it was worth going out just to see them alone.

The whole night was superb – I found it a bit difficult to take photos with my sling but we’d been lucky (or cheeky) enough to get front row seats. Bill soon abandoned me & moved right up to the edge of the stage to take his photos!

There were a few speeches at the end (where I understood much more of the Japanese than the Portuguese translation) and then there were drinks & nibbles provided by the Japanese embasy. All in all, it was a fantastic evening that we thoroughly enjoyed.

4 comments:

baresytapas said...

I came to this place by chance, but I found very interesting. Greetings to all the people who visit this page.

Vivalda Branco said...

Dear Sue,

Wazekele...

First of all my cumpliments for your wonderful work. I´m one of the responsible of the angolan group who participate on Beat and Wind from Japan Asia show in Luanda and if you need to know a little bit more you can contact me by this e-mail:karapinhas@gmail.com

Ngassa Kidila
Obrigado

Anonymous said...

Hi Sue, are you still currently in Luanda? My husband is Canadian-Angolan and is in Malange at the moment, I would love to email contact you to see how life really is there, to see if I should consider moving to Angola. Pls email me at simi@vaxxine.com or you can look at my facebook page (Simona Skarecky) and contact me that way. Thanks so much. Simona March 12, 2011

Dave said...

Hi Sue, I run an expat site called ExpatArrivals.com and would love to ask you a question via email. Would you mind dropping me a line at david.fair at wordtravels.com ?
Hope to hear from you soon!
Thanks, Dave