Cultural similarities strengthen relations

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.