Continuing directly on from my last post. The scene: Carl and Sueko Boland’s house in Sugoshicho, Japan.

Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 August
As part of the Resonant Interval show at Gallery G-77 in Kyoto—on Friday 24 August to be exact—Carl and I are scheduled to do a performance, the centrepiece of which is supposed to be a brand new 15-minute audio-visual collaborative piece. My main job whilst I’ve been in Japan has been to make the film. It’s more-or-less done by this time, but the music remains in an entirely skeletal state: over this weekend Carl and myself are supposed to be developing it and rehearsing for the show.

So basically we spend two days in his studio whilst the sun shines down and rural Japan dreamily meanders along outside. Carl does most of the audio processing, I do most of the structural work. Two long, hard, but ultimately pretty successful days. By Sunday night the track is mostly there, but the first section remains in its original skeletal state and we haven’t practised together at all. We’ve run out of time.

Meanwhile on Sunday—whilst Carl and myself stay in Sugoshicho—Heather, Matthew, and Sueko meet at the gallery and  begin putting up the show.

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The only break we have is a few hours on Saturday evening. There is a Buddhist festival in the village—a bit like our Harvest Festival (with donations to the temple of food)—but celebrated at the start of the harvest rather than the end. Heather and I are generously invited by the villagers to take part. As with the visit to the temple the evening before I found the simplicity and emotional authenticity of the experience humbling and deeply affecting:

After sausages-on-sticks, shaved ice sundaes, and plenty of alcohol—mainly for the men hanging out on the temple steps—the dancing began. This was a kind of circular line dance with a specific set of moves that symbolise the sowing and reaping of the rice harvest. The heavily rhythmic and hypnotic folk music goes on and on, with endless verses by alternating male and female vocalists about, um, farming (according to Sueko who’s a local and knows these things). Needless to say Hev and myself were dragged into the action:

The whole thing was utterly delightful. As you can see it’s a very small and tight community. Everyone was extremely warm, welcoming, and friendly. The kids are joyous and just run free in what is clearly a very safe and loving communal embrace.

I’m at a loss for words to describe how profoundly moving this evening was, and how privileged we felt to be immediately and unquestioningly accepted into these people’s lives. An amazing and totally unexpected experience.