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December 19, 2004

Crazy Latin Okinawa Music GO!

Last night I went to the 大琉球祭り王国 (The Great Ryukyu Festival Kingdom!) in Ginowan. Though the evening show was sold out I managed to get in on the waiting list. In line I was surprised to find that most of the people around me were in fact from Okinawa and not from the mainland, which is I suppose what I was expecting having passed so many tour buses on the way in. I figured out why soon enough. The first act was essentially a much-better-produced (serious) Okinawan version of the show from Waiting for Guffman. It was amazing, and told the story/legend of a local castle lord from Katsuren-gusuku (which is where all the kids were from). It started with two junior high girls wandering into the castle grounds at night-- one gets frightened and wants to leave, and the apparition of some king and his attendant (?), Henza Hattori (who was played by this SUPER-genki high schooler and was by far the most fun character in the show) come and explain the story of Lord Amawari, the famous aji (feudal lord) of the castle who dies tragically through unavoidable circumstances despite his undying loyalty and kindness (of course). The ending has the girl realizing that she shouldn't be afraid of the castle ruins because the castle protected her ancestors for generations.

There were extremely dramatic musical numbers extolling the virtue of this lord in loud rock opera fashion and legions of barefooted dancers representing the Shuri army and a whole bunch of other guys. The costumes varied a bit in quality and I could just picture their moms sitting at home painting the tomoe onto their black cloaks the week before. It was really great.

At the end during the bows the star thanked the audience and he and everyone on stage started to cry, genuinely and really for quite a long time. It was so wonderful to see what this experience must have meant to them.

I had a very nice conversation with the ladies at the booth after the show, who explained that all the performers were middle schoolers and high schoolers from Katsuren and that they put on this show at the Convention Center every year.

After that, heard Ikeda Suguru, a singer/shamisen player with two backup instrumentalists. Apparantly he's from a VERY small town on Iriomote-jima (which is itself pretty small) and he played up the furusato natsukashisa for all it was worth. Interesting point: he took an impromptu survey of the audience, asking everyone from Okinawa-ken to clap, and he was visibly startled by how many natives were there. He then asked the mainlanders to clap. It was interesting to see how I was not even a conceivable demographic for his performance. Granted, though, I must've been one of maybe ten gaijin there at most.

After him was Diamantes, a Latin Okinawan rock group (I'm not kidding). I didn't want to be rude, but after about thirty seconds I just had to plug my ears. The concrete floor was vibrating, for heaven's sake. The music itself was wonderfully bizarre, but I finally couldn't stand it anymore and left, which was lucky because I got to the bus stop two minutes before the last bus back to Naha. Someone's looking out for me.

On the way back I spotted an A&W drive-in restaurant. Yes, DRIVE-IN. With a big mural of a blonde waitress on rollar-skates. This place is such a cultural Twilight Zone.

Today I spent sitting at the Starbucks (see, Dad? You can come here! They have a Fred Refilling Station!) trying to read the book of collected public opinion surveys I had taken pictures of with my digital camera at the Kokusaidai library. Interesting factoid: with the exception of the "Nixon Shock"/reversion period from 1971-1974 Okinawans have, since at least 1966, agreed that the self-defense forces are necessary, though that doesn't mean they like having their bases on the island. Seriously, sometimes it seems like the more information I have the harder my project gets to write. That's just wrong, isn't it?

Posted by Ben at December 19, 2004 07:06 AM

Comments

"The more information you have..."
You have discovered why so many people in government, on both sides of the aisle, have decided that thought is an impediment to their agenda, and have abandoned it entirely.

Posted by: Fred at December 19, 2004 05:25 PM