Symphony in Okinawa

I have recently made friends with some local Okinawa musicians, who have finally connected us to a symphony!  There is a beautiful hall, Tedako Hall in Urasoe.  We have been twice in the month of October.  The first concert was with the Vicanta Orchestra.  This concert featured a bass soloist, soprano (who was heavenly!) and two piano soloists.  Overall, it was a wonderful concert that helped fill a void for Joe and I. 

Tedako Hall

These were the coolest stairs -- a ramp within the stairs!



Entrance

At the end of October, I was offered tickets to another concert at Tedako Hall.  This time it was traditional Okinawan music for the symphony -- a sort of "pops" concert.  This was great fun!  As you can see, I was a little less shy about taking my camera out this time (we were in the last row of the balcony).

These Okinawan songs were for choir and solo sanshin.

After intermission the stage was changed quite drastically.  You can see the choir has been replaced by a "choir" of sanshin players.

The "traditional" Okinawan musicians would play the melody in unison while singing.

Dancers



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To try to capture the unique sounds, I took one tiny (although still inappropriate!) video. You only see the ceiling of Tedako Hall, but you can hear the sanshin "chorus" with the orchestra.

The Eisa drummers were added for the last song.  The were thunderous!

I also wanted to share the sounds of the Eisa drums.  Here's another little sound snippet!



At the end, the maestro invited all of the composers onstage.  All the orchestra music was specially written by these Okinawan composers.



On our way out, we ran into one of the composers in the lobby.  Joe tried to give him a big smile and thumbs up for his great work. I'm not sure why we forgot about "bravo!"  That might have translated!!