Ainu dance performance transfixes local audience
By K. Basrie
JAKARTA (JP): The spotlight faded and Atuy closed his eyes in concentration.
In slow motion, Atuy, the 51-year-old leader and founder of the Ainu tribal music group from Hokkaido, Japan, bent his arms toward his chest and lowered them once again. The light came back on, and Atuy opened his eyes. In an enchanting bass tone he screamed, his heavy voice echoing through the ballroom.
It was as if his roar had come from a lake surrounded by mountains and the blue sky of Moshiri, as Hokkaido is called in the Ainu language. Atuy later explained to The Jakarta Post that he was trying to get in touch with Amuy, the Ainu god and goddess of nature, in order to receive its blessing.
Last Thursday's performance at the Aryaduta Hotel in Central Jakarta was the Ainu's first in Indonesia.
A few minutes later into the performance, in a low earthy voice, a woman standing in front of Atuy, Fusae Shinotchaki, began to sing Icharpa, a song in remembrance of the Ainu's ancestors and to thank God.
A synthesizer, played by a woman at the edge of the stage, was the only musical accompaniment for this piece, to which four young women with long hair rhythmically danced.
When the first show ended after 10 minutes, the audience in the Panti Surya ballroom gave a one-minute applause. When it was all over, the guests left transfixed.
Among the guests were composer and singer Titiek Puspa, country musician Frangky Sahilatua and poet W.S. Rendra.
That evening, the Ainu performed seven of their best songs.
Simple
The costumes were traditional and simple. Unlike many traditional Japanese artists, the Ainu did not wear thick make-up or use complicated musical instruments. The only traditional instrument used was a mukkuri, a wind instrument similar to the bagon, a tool used by a local tribe in Wamena, Irian Jaya.
"The similarity of the two instruments attracted us to come to Indonesia to learn about the bagon in Irian Jaya," Atuy told reporters after the performance.
Seichi Okawa, the group's guide on their Indonesian visit, said that the 15 members were here as tourists.
The group is currently performing in the Wamena valley and in Jayapura for six days until Dec. 20, said Okawa, who introduced the group to the bagon. Their performances have been organized by Gatra magazine to commemorate the weekly's second anniversary.
The Ainu tribe is an aboriginal race on Hokkaido island, which was previously known as Ezo. Agriculture, fishing and forestry were the main economic activities in the early days of Hokkaido, the northernmost and second largest of Japan's four main islands.
The island is noted for its dramatic and unspoiled scenery, including active volcanoes, large lakes and vast virgin forests.
According to Atuy, whose Japanese name is Masanori Toyooka, there are only about 30,000 Ainu people in Hokkaido and another 70,000 in other parts of Japan.
Donald Richie wrote in Introducing Japan: "The few remaining Ainu, Japan's bearded and white-skinned aboriginal race, live here (in Hokkaido) now, having been pushed northward over the centuries by the people from Yamato, whom we now call the Japanese."
Hokkaido is the most sparsely settled and the least industrially developed section in Japan.
"It's a hard land of promise, where perhaps fortunes are to be made, but where at the same time Japan as it once continues to live," wrote Richie.
But Atuy has no bad feelings about the Yamato. Of the 15 members in his group, seven are Shisam, the Ainu's word for Japanese.
"But they are the Japanese who eagerly want to learn about us," Atuy said.
Hokkaido essentially represents the Earth for the Ainu people. It is also a favorable place for having big families, said Atuy.
"The weather is always chilly, that's why I could have 12 children," said Atuy, which means "sea" in Ainu.
Six of the eight Ainu members in his group are his children.
Founded by Atuy 17 years ago, the Moshiri music group has recorded 11 compact discs.
They frequently perform, particularly in Japan. In 1983, the group participated in the World Minority Group Fiesta at La Mama theater in New York.
Atuy said he performed the songs and the Moshiri music for people as well as for the environment.
Their performance here could have been improved if the dancers had made more eye contact with the audience and smiled more. But overall, the Moshiri group managed to convey the essence of Ainu tribe.