Thursday, April 10, 2008

Thomas and Avi Enkatain at Cherry Blossom Festival !

Tsukuba has burst into color, mainly in shades of pink, as the cherry blossom front has swept upon us right on schedule. I had been asked a few weeks earlier if The TenGooz could play at a Festival held at the Hojo Oike, a small pond surrounded by sakura trees.
I could only answer with a `we`ll see', as our appearance seemed to be contingent on our performing an enka song(a genre of sentimental Japanese songs popular with older folks), and I knew that Hase G would be strongly against it. I was right about that,of course, and when I tried to subtly suggest the idea to our bassist, he responded with a firm and emotional-NO WAY!

Thomas lives very near the pond, in an area accessed by ancient roads which have hardly changed since the feudal period. We decided that we would go ahead,just the two of us, and perform the requested song as voice accompanied by acoustic guitar.
We got together on Thursday night(the event was on Saturday) and played through the song a few times, repeatedly listening to the cassette I had been given.

The day of the festival was glorious,in terms of metereorological conditions and it felt great to be alive.

Most of the audeince at the festival were extra grateful for being present on that perfect day, as they were mostly in their 80`s and 90`s. It was quite possible that there was a centenarian or 2 , as well. They certainly seemed glad to be there for another cherry blossom viewing.

The green room (the room in which performers wait before going on-stage)experience at the festival, was also quite unique. We shared it with a troupe of Japanese dancers, singers and toad- oil salesmen.

Thomas and I ended up doing 3 songs and making a quick break for it, in order to avoid the throngs of rabid , autograph seeking seniors. Then, our great day had just begun.....to be continued

Avi Landau

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