Special eventThursday 22 June – Monday 24 July 2023
Special Video Screening: Okinawa Islands by Naoko Hentona & Cocco
13/14 Cornwall Terrace, Outer Circle (entrance facing Regent's Park), London NW1 4QP
the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation Organised by
Utahai (‘song-prayer’) was initiated in Okinawa as a prayer for peace through music, visual arts and dance in 2015, expanding to Tokyo in 2018. The musical form cuts across the genres of Ryukyu traditional music, folk songs and pop, and reflects a wide spectrum of expression by the performers. This screening showcases an edited version of Okinawan Utahai from 2022, performed and filmed in Tokyo.
The islands of Okinawa have historically been a contested region, not only in terms of power relations between countries, but also between humans and ecosystems. More recently, the Ukraine invasion has prompted security concerns across the Asia-Pacific region, including in Okinawa. In this video screening, the participating artists respond to current tensions by echoing the voices of local people, and in doing so resonate and empathise with conflict areas around the world.
The piece Time, takes the viewer from the present day back to the Battle of Okinawa (1945), in which many civilians lost their lives. It portrays birth and sacrifice, embrace and rejection, hope and despair. The idyllic scenery may seem peaceful today, but reflecting back reveals a time of limitless sorrow. The music was written and played by Hentona herself, as a backdrop to rare archival pictures from the war.
The work Ye-il-chi (藍色血潮) translates literally as ‘indigo and blood tide’. Cocco takes colour as the genesis of life, and in this work a microcosm of the deep sea turns red as an analogy for the effects of human intervention. Evolution is intertwined with the dilemma of the limits of our life due to the effect of human actions. The music of Ye-il-chi starts and ends with the metallic sounds of kuganizeiku, a traditional Okinawan form of artisan metalworking dating back to the Ryukyu kingdom of the 15th century.
The works by Naoko Hentona and Cocco cause us to pause and see Okinawa both in the light of its rich history and the scars in its shadows. The works thus seeks to invoke a sense of connection with other countries and cultures through performance.
The special video screening will be shown in the ground floor library.
22 June – 24 July 2023
Monday–Friday 9:30am–5pm
Admission free, no booking required
About the contributors
Naoko Hentona
Naoko Hentona, is a pianist, a music composer and a theatre director. She is a highly acclaimed composer and arranger from Okinawa. She is a graduate of the Music Creation course at Osaka University of Art. Naoko actively incorporates her Okinawan roots into her music, which covers a very diverse range from classical to world music.
Cocco
Cocco is a Singer and Dancer, from Okinawa, Japan. She debuted as a singer/song-writer simultaneously in the US and Japan in 1996. Since then, she has released 10 original albums with more than 4 million copies sold, performed arena tours, and participated in numerous music festivals around the world. Cocco was invited by Yoko Ono to perform at the John Lennon Super Live concerts in Tokyo in 2006, 2009 and 2013. In 2017, Cocco celebrated the 20th anniversary of her debut at the Nippon Budokan concert in Tokyo, among more than 30,000 fans, in an event that took place over 2 days. Cocco’s talent as an actress was demonstrated in Daijyobu de aruyouni (2008), a film directed by Hirokazu Koreeda. In the 2011 film Kotoko, she both played the leading role and led the artistic direction and music of the film. Kotoko was awarded the Best Film Award in the Orizzonti section at the 2011 Venice International Film Festival. She also made her debut as a stage actress in 2014.