Week in Review

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Koto and Yamato from Japan

          The Siri Fort auditorium in Delhi, India's Capital, was the venue of a historical and unique celebration. To commemorate 50 years of diplomatic ties between India and Japan, artistes of the two countries got together to present cultural programs of a wide range - music, dance and drama. The repertoire consisted of traditional and classical items. The entire program was organised by the Japanese Foundation and the Embassy of Japan. It was spread over two days.

          On the first day was presented the Koto concert by the Matsumura Koto music group. Koto is a string instrument that originated in China and came to Japan in 7th-8th century. It has two types - 13 strings and 17 strings. The program consisted of a number of musical compositions, but the highlights were the Shinwn - Japanese Mythology and a Jugalbandi (combination of two dance stuyles of India).

Jugalbandi of Bharatanatyam and Kathak

The two dancers were Japanese. Izumi Sato enacted sun goddess Amaterasu-oh-mi-Kami in Bharatanatyam style and Masako Sato was moon god Tsukuyomi-no-mi-Koto dancing in Kathak style.

          Although the music was composed by Emi Okada, all the instruments and the players were Indian, except her. Ms Okada accompanied the dancers on the synthesizer and sitar. Both Japanese girls are recipients of ICCR scholarships to study Indian classical arts.

           Yamato - the drummers of Japan - came from Nara, the ancient Capital of the country. Yamato has toured all over the world and given many concerts with their instrument called Taiko. It was their first visit to India. Before coming to Delhi they had performed in Colombo, Dhaka, Kolkata and Chennai.

           The program was part of the Spirit Tour in South Asia 2002 in joint commemoration of the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Bangladesh and Japan as well as the 50th anniversary of India-

Japan and Sri Lanka-Japan relations.

           The drummers presented seven items, each one in a different mood and a great musical variety. The ensemble, the ten drummers in gorgeous, elegant costumes and their huge, barrel type drums - three metres in diametre - offers a unique experience to the audience, both visual and musical.

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