Kerala - Kalpetta   

An evening of bamboo orchestra

CRESCENDO: A joint performance by Tokyo Rakutakedan, a bamboo orchestra from Tokyo, and Vayali, an NGO, at Thrikkaippatta on Thursday.

KALPETTA: It was an unusual setting. An evening of fusion of bamboo orchestras from Japan and India. Tokyo Rakutakedan, a bamboo orchestra from Tokyo, and Vayali, a non-governmental organisation dedicated to folk art forms at Arangottukara in Thrissur, held the audience spellbound during a two-hour programme at Thrikkaippatta on Thursday.

The event was organised by Uravu, an indigenous science and study centre.

The orchestras played fusion after performing their indigenous compositions.

“Though we had performed the bamboo orchestra on different stages in India, the fusion of Indian and Japanese (orchestras) was a new experience for us; moreover, it was staged even without a trial,” Tomoe Irino, coordinator of Rakutakedan, said after the programme.

During the performance of folk songs from the State, the artistes of Vayali were accompanied by the troupe from Japan. The audience got to view different Japanese bamboo instruments such as Take Marimba (bamboo marimba), Takebera (bamboo stick instrument), Slittam (bamboo percussion with thin ling holes), Shinobue (Japanese traditional bamboo flute), Ankilung (an Indonesian musical instrument) and Unaridake (Japanese version of the wind instrument of the Aborigines of Australia).

Ms. Irino said Makato Yabuki, Japanese composer and music director who started the bamboo orchestra in the 1980s in Tokyo, designed most of the musical instruments made of bamboo.

Ms. Irino, Miyoko Ashimoto and Tomoyuki Iwatsuki were on percussion, while Kenji Ashimoto and Koto played the bamboo flute with the artistes of Vayali Vinod and Manoharan (vocal); Manikandan (chenda); Vinod (flute), Manoharan (maram - a crude form of maddalam).

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