A stage where Alarippu meets Anime

Dance, music, drama featured in the cultural celebration of the 70th anniversary of India-Japan diplomatic relations

To mark the anniversary of 70 years of the establishment of diplomatic relations between India and Japan, The Indo-Japan Chamber of Commerce and Trust and The Japanese Association in Chennai organized an evening of cultural performances on August 6. With the date also being the anniversary of the devastating Hiroshima-Nagasaki nuclear attacks, the event aimed to celebrate the strength of humanity and culture that survived through the horror.

The Chennai Karaoke Band (CKB) and students of the IJCCI Language School performed that evening, with Taga Masayuki, Japanese Consul-General  playing the tunes on the trumpet along with them.

“India-Japan relations have never been stronger than it is now. I like these kinds of programs because there are more people-to-people interactions, and they get to know each other better. I am especially happy to hear the performances by the Indian students who are learning Japanese, and their Japanese is excellent,” said the Consul-General.

Opening the show with a graceful Bharatanatyam performance, Sarishma Sreejath, a student of the IJCCI Language School, depicted the art and heritage of India’s performing arts. She performed Alarippu and Ulagam pugazhum which invoked solemnity and elegance that reflected the richness of Indian culture.

Next, the Chennai Karaoke Band, comprising Arata Kato on the drums, Kousuke Kumagai on the keyboard, Yoshiyuki Sakamoto on the guitar, Shigehiko Tanaka and Masaaki Nose on the guitar and bass, Shinichiro Mirura and Neeraja Sunder Rajan on the vocals and l Consul-General. Taga Masayuki on the trumpet saw several students from IJCCI Language School performing and singing in Japanese. A notable performance was a Japanese language rendition of the evergreen ‘Take Me Home, Country Roads, ’ by John Denver.

A humorous skit wherein the characters conversed only speaking through Japanese tongue twisters was followed by a game of tongue twisters, involving the audience – they got a shot at either saying it in Japanese or English.

Anime the cultural phenomenon that has sparked global interest in Japan, took the form of a musical drama filled with songs from famous Anime like Yuri on Ice, Naruto, Fullmetal Alchemist and K-On to name a few. It showcased the life of a teenager through the different stages of growth. After all, as Yuri on Ice tells us, we are all born to make history. We learn from history; we carry it with us, and we have the power to make history again.