After an afternoon of shakuhachi lessons with Bronwyn at David's house, the new 'shakidance' in Sydney, I attended the music performance piece Chika at the Performance Space in its new home at Carriageworks.
I was drawn by the appearance of Satsuki Odamura playing koto and Anne Norman playing shakuhachi in the score by Tom Fitzgerald. The music was amplified electronic and traditional instruments, accessible in style but an interesting blend of live and sampled with a dancer and video montage weaving together analogue and digital, 2D and 3D. Described as "a multi-layered production and contemporary story telling, crossing genres of journalism, visual and performing arts, incorporating original live music, dance and narration, documentary images, archival video and recorded interviews," it is the story of Chika Honda.
Chika is a real person, a Japanese woman who spent a decade in Australian jails for a crime she has always insisted she did not commit. She was one of a Japanese tour group who were arrested for importation of heroin in 1992. She was released on parole in November 2002 and is now living in Japan. It is a "Lost in Translation for a Decade" saga that may all have been avoidable with better interpretation of language during the trial. The story follows the human endeavour and overcoming adversity.
Artists: Mayu Kanamori, Yumi Umiumare, Tom Fitzgerald, Satsuki Odamura, Anne Norman, Toshinori Sakamoto, Andrei Shabunov, Nick Franklin, Malcolm Blaylock, Keith Tucker.
