Chieko Tagami’s Weblog

Musicians and a dancer at Harp Festival 2008

I was 34 weeks pregnant when I danced Irish step dance on the stage with music played by an Irish harp player Claire Roche.  It was at the occasion of Harp Festival held by Australian National University.  Please take a look!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMgrnFDxthE

The photo was taken after the concert.  From the left, Claire Roche, Chieko Tagami, Jane Belfrage and Diana Rowan.

In making my glass works, there are two factors that determine my direction as an artist. One of which is my identity as a Japanese who grew up in traditional environment. Another is my deep inner psyche and philosophy that I have had since when I was a child.

Today I am going to talk about the first factor: my upbringing.

My grandfather and my father are both masters of Shakuyachi (Japanese bamboo flute) and Sigin (musical recitation of a poem). My mother let me learn Japanese traditional dance since when I was three years old. She learned the dance herself, too, and became a master. She used to learn Koto (Japanese harp), had taught calligraphy to adults and children and now still teaches Japanese traditional exercise Jikyojyutsu which seemed to save her life from number of serious sickness. Such family involved in so many traditional something is not very common in modern Japan.

As I learned Japanese traditional dance since when I was so young, Japanese kimono, sensu (fan), tenugui (cotton towel) and their beautiful patterns became part of my life. The mesmerizing sceneries of stage, gorgeous costumes, songs just like holy chant – everything was so unreal and yet very familiar to me because I have seen and been on such stages so many times.

Now kimono is getting very popular among young Japanese and I think it is wonderful since Japanese beauty is long forgotten and hopefully it does not end just as temporal phenomena. As for me, Japanese tradition is something deeply engraved and imprinted in my mind. In my glass works, I am trying to adopt the patterns I am so familiar with, such as arabesque patterns and hexagon patterns.

Next time I will talk about the second factor influencing my glass making.

I heard a lot about it and it was my very first time to take part in it… and I volunteered, danced, played music, saw a lot of concerts and made new friends.

To volunteer at NFF was a good way to participate. It was certainly fun and at the same time exhausting. Sometimes I started working at 8am (and there was no bus in early morning, so I walked nearly 10 km to get there in time!) and Irish jam sessions went on until the next morning. However, as I worked as a volunteer, I met wonderful folks from all over Australia whom I wouldn’t meet otherwise.

What made my festival experience special was too meet people at volunteer work and having a session with Chris Stout (yes, the guy in the photo), a great fiddler from Shetland. I saw Chris at a concert in Tokyo when he was performing together with my favourite Danish group Haugaard & Høirup. I was fascinated by Chris’s accurate, sensitive and beautiful music. This time at the gigs and the session, he showed wild and passionate side – it was as if his Shetland blood was driving his music. I also feel the same for Martin Hayes who seems to be driven by his Irish blood… or it may be simply my imagination. They talk with similar accent… that’s kinda cute

I am happy to start this blog on the most important day of year (!?) St. Patrick’s Day. Hope you will enjoy reading my experiences and thoughts.

Major events of this week

Monday: 1 – 2pm My web art teacher Sharon B‘s husband will play Irish fiddle at King O’Malley’s

7.30pm Ceili at Nora and Martin’s class

Tuesday: 7pm Irish jam session at Old Canberra Inn

Thursday: National Folk Festival! Come to sessions starting in the evening ending God knows when!