JQ Magazine: Nippon in New York — Pico Iyer, Hiromi, Lincoln Center Bunraku
By JQ magazine editor Justin Tedaldi (CIR Kobe-shi, 2001-02). Justin has written about Japanese arts and entertainment for JETAA since 2005. For more of his articles, click here.
TheJapan-centric events of the month ahead promise to be as rich and full asautumn itself—brisk and colorful, with a dash of unpredictability.
This month’shighlights include:
Thursday, Oct. 3, 8:00 p.m. and10:00 p.m.
Zac Zinger Fulfillment Release Concert
Jazz at Kitano, 66 ParkAvenue
$18 cover, call (212) 885-7119 for reservations
A four-timerecipient of the ASCAP Young Jazz Composer Award, Zac Zinger is a composer andmusician (whose credits includes Final Fantasy XV: Assassin’s Festival and StreetFighter V) ready to unleash his debut album. Fulfillment is acompilation of Zinger’s best compositions for small jazz ensemble over the lastdecade, performed on shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute) and saxophonewith his progressive jazz quartet featuring Sharik Hasan on piano, Adam Neelyon bass, and Luke Markham on drums.
Sunday, Oct. 6, 2:00 p.m.
Windof Tsugaru in New York: Bunta Satoh, Tsugarubue
CarnegieHall (WeillRecital Hall), 881 Seventh Avenue
$25-$45 (clickhere for 20% discount for orchestra seats)
FlautistBunta Satoh introduces the history and culture of Tsugarubue, a Japanese bambooflute from the Tsugaru region of Aomori Prefecture. In addition to performingthis one-of-a-kind music, he composes for the instrument and organizesworkshops to inspire a new generation to uphold its tradition. He released histhird album, The Wind of Tsugaru, in January 2017. Joining him for thisperformance are Hiro Hayashida and Sota Asano (taiko drums), Chihiro Shibayama(percussion), Stephanie Matthews (violin), Reenat Pinchas (cello), and Hsin-NiLiu (piano).
Oct. 11-17, various times
Tora-san,Our Lovable Tramp (It’s Tough Being a Man)
FilmForum, 209 West Houston Street
$15, $9 members
New 50thanniversary 4K restoration! The longest-running film series starring the sameactor (48 features over 27 years), with all but two directed by Yoji Yamada andevery one starring Kiyoshi Atsumi as the itinerant, rough around the edgespeddler Torajiro Kuruma (nicknamed Tora-san, literally “Mr. Tiger”), a comicfigure as iconic in Japan as Chaplin while capable of cutting throughpretentious piffle and providing serene counsel to the troubled and thelovelorn—if not always to himself. In his debut appearance, Tora-san hilariouslybotches the arranged marriage of his kid sister Sakura (Chieko Baisho),but later reverse-psychologizes two timid lovers into a real romance.
Monday, Oct. 14, 6:30 p.m.
PicoIyer—A Beginner’s Guide to Japan
Asia Society, 725 Park Avenue
$20, $17 students/seniors, $15members
Thequintessential global wanderer, Pico Iyer has published two books onJapan this year: Autumn Light and A Beginner's Guideto Japan. After thirty-plus years in Japan, Iyer can use everything fromanime to Oscar Wilde to show how his adopted home is both hauntinglyfamiliar and yet remains strange. A Beginner’s Guide to Japan: Observationsand Provocations is a playful and profound guidebook full ofsurprising, brief, incisive glimpses into Japanese culture. Iyer’s adventuresand observations make for a constantly surprising series of provocationsguaranteed to pique the interest and curiosity of those who don’t know Japan,and remind those who do of the complexities and surprises that create lastingmemories. Followed by a book sale and signing.
Oct. 19-22, various times
SugimotoBunraku Sonezaki Shinju: The Love Suicides at Sonezaki
Rose Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center Frederick P. Rose Hall, 10 Columbus Circle
$20-$100
Part of the opening night of Lincoln Center’s WhiteLight Festival! At the turn of 18th century Japan, a clerk and a courtesancommitted suicide in the forest of Tenjin. The Love Suicides atSonezaki, a tragic play based upon these events, was banned after its 1703premiere for more than two centuries. For this U.S. production premiere,renowned artist Hiroshi Sugimoto presents a bold, contemporary interpretationof the classic drama using bunraku puppet theater with music by Living NationalTreasure Seiji Tsurusawa and video by Tabaimo and Sugimoto. The puppets, imbuedwith life, captivate audiences with their lively movements rivaling theeloquence of actual human beings. Performed in Japanese with Englishsupertitles.
Oct. 19-20, 8:00 p.m. and 10:30p.m.
Sony Hall, 235 West 46th Street
$40 advance, $45 day of show
Grammy-winner HiromiUehara first mesmerized the jazz community with her 2003 debut, Another Mind.The buzz started by her first album spread all the way back to her nativeJapan, where she received the Recording Industry Association of Japan’s JazzAlbum of the Year Award. In 2006, Hiromi won Best Jazz Act at the Boston MusicAwards and the Guinness Jazz Festival’s Rising Star Award. Subsequentcollaborations with artists as diverse as Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, and Michel Camilo followed,and Hiromi continues her winning streak with Spectrum, her 11th studioalbum (and first solo piano release in a decade).
Tuesday, Oct. 22, 8:00 p.m.
Sony Hall, 235 West 46th Street
$35 advance, $40 day of show
The musicianswho gave birth to their own genre of “Tokyo Ska” is now celebrating its30th anniversary. As the first Japanese band ever to appear at Coachella,their name is an object of admiration for ska enthusiasts around the world,such as international artists and musicians visiting record stores to feelSakapara’s sound source when they visit Japan. Making their indie debut in1989 and continuing to grow, there are now a total of nine members—guaranteedto get Midtown on its feet for skanking the night away.
Thursday, Oct. 24, 7:30 p.m.
JapanSociety, 333 East 47th Street
$30, $25 members
Japan’s scariest ghost stories are brought to life by acclaimed actorShiro Sano through his dynamic reading of Kwaidan, a collection ofJapanese folktales from writer Lafcadio Hearn (1850-1904). Also known as YakumoKoizumi, Hearn was attracted to the beauty of Japan and Shintoism, whichincorporates worship of nature, spirits and ancestors. Sano’s reading,accompanied by powerful and exquisite live music by distinguished guitarist KyojiYamamoto, illustrates Hearn’s open-minded view of Japan and the world. Precedingthe live performance, folklorist Bon Koizumi, the great-grandson of Hearn andDirector of the Lafcadio Hearn Memorial Museum in the city of Matsue, will givea short lecture. Performed in Japanese with English supertitles. Followed byan ORIX Stewardship Foundation Reception.
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