Cultural similarities strengthen relations

By Mariam K. Sutalaksana

JAKARTA (JP): Who would have thought music and dance from Okinawa would have an intimate correlation with the Sundanese, Javanese and Sumatran cultures? Performed at the Ballroom of Hotel Dai-chi, Jakarta, last Saturday, this dance and music show, Ryukyu no Tayori or the message from Okinawa, clearly brings forth a sense of camaraderie between Indonesia and Japan, particularly in the traditional performing arts.

As part of the Indonesia-Japan Friendship Festival 1995, Noriko Aragaki and sixteen of her dancers and musicians were invited to perform traditional south Japanese dances and music.

Starting with Odoikuwadisa, a ceremonial happiness dance, her twelve all female dancers entered with rhythmic, deliberate steps and a subtle sense of joyfulness shining from their faces. The bright red, purple and yellow kimono costumes and the clacking of the hand held instruments added to the jovial air. The serenity and concentrated expressions of the dancers, found also in many Javanese dances, was characteristic of that day's presentation.

After the first number, a melange of an up-tempo, yet calming and faintly humorous, traditional Ryukyu dances and a few of Aragaki's original choreographies were staged. Kanayo-Amakama was a more dynamic duet on the universal theme of love. The man and the woman, both played by women wearing headbands, marched diagonally and horizontally on stage following the beat of the Japanese drums in a well composed manner. Their coy flirtations started in simple steps of the feet, while their open palms held angularly up in the air was reminiscent of the hand movements in a Sumatran dance. Eventually with a piece of cloth held by both dancers, a symbol of their emotional bond, the couple walks of stage together. Another dance, Shondoushi, a comical piece about two beauties and two ugly ducklings, evoked spurts of laughter from the audience. The dance consisted mostly of contrasting movements between the lovely ladies versus the hideous beings, the gawky mimicking the graceful.

The musical accompaniment, an integral part of these dances, was almost as familiar as a Sundanese musical ensemble. The samisen, a traditional Japanese instrument, was compared by the emcee with the Sundanese kecapi. The flute emanated a sonorous sound also similar to that of the bamboo flute of west Java.

A particularly striking resemblance of one the dances, Tyurimma, to the Indonesian Kuda Lumping caught the fancy of the spectators. Holding wooden red and white boards shaped like horses, the twelve dancers with purple headbands cantered up and down the stage with determination. Their simple movements were complemented by the intricate patterns formed by the horse riders. Moreover, the flexed position of the feet as they walked about the stage paralleled that of a Sumatran dancer. The brightly colored costumes further echoes the attire worn by Indonesian traditional dancers, such as the songket of Sumatra.

Props were an important element in Aragaki's performance. The Hana dance used an oversized red flower held by each dancer as they created circular patterns. Fans were used to extend arm movements and display an array of picturesque gold and silver patterns in another dance. Strips of cloth were also used in many pieces. Indonesians, like the Balinese Kebyar Duduk, a Jaipongan dance group of West Java, and a selection of Indonesian and Ryukyu songs sung by Melati Indah Choir, also performed. According to Ritsuko Suwito, the choir's organizer, the songs were chosen to show the similarities in the melodies between the Okinawa and Indonesian pieces. Those chosen were Kroncong Kemayoran and Ande- ande Lumut from Indonesia, and Chinnuku-Jyushi, Opio and Asadoya- Yunta from Japan.

Moriki Nishihira, a native of Okinawa residing in Jakarta, is invited Arigaki's group and said the music and dance of Okinawa is similar to that found in Sundanese and Sumatran cultures. Thus, inviting Aragaki's group along with to other Okinawa cultural groups, Ryukyu Kuni Matsuri Daiko and the Esai Dance Group, for the festival seemed highly appropriate. He said he specifically asked Aragaki because of her forty-five years experience in this art as well as her prestige for having danced in the opening ceremony of Kokuritsu Gekijyo, the celebrated national theater of Japan.

Though not organized as a professional production, the message of the natives of Okinawa was conveyed without fail. By looking more closely at similarities rather than scrutinizing differences, ties with all nations can be strengthened.