Double Treat

I really don’t like watching concerts of playing music instruments but when my Japanese friend asked me to accompany him and got a ticket for the two of us for the Wadaiko Yamato Concert in Riverbanks Center, Marikina City, I did not have the heart to refuse. Of course, being with your special someone is not going to happen frequently especially when he doesn’t know that he’s special. Besides, I have the fascination for everything that relates to Japanese culture and it is my dream to experience life in a Japanese way.

The Wadaiko Yamato group’s evening concert started this year at the Cultural Center of the Philippines and marks the beginning of the Philippine-Japan Friendship Year 2006. Wadaiko Yamato is a group of young enthusiastic performers of Japan playing with Japan’s traditional Wadaiko drums. These internationally acclaimed group blends theater and musical arts into a performance of synchronized percussion and expressive tools. They bring a new and youthful vigor to Taiko drumming which would be an unforgettable experience for the audience. I cannot help but to amazed in their performances as they channels all they energies into a dynamic display of technical brilliance and euphoric concentration. I can’t also help not to dance on my chair to the beat of the drums and my body just goes on with the music. That night was really a double treat for my part, having enjoyed the concert and having Cris, my special friend, in a single momentous event.

I was also thinking of the so-called Philippine-Japan Friendship Year that the Arroyo government launched in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the normalizatio0n of diplomatic relations between Philippines and Japan. It was a good move though I am wondering about it because we already know that the suave relations between these two nations had been long established. The Japanese government had delivered its apology for the 1940’s event and I think the launching of Japanese-Friendship Year is over-acting. Maybe the reason behind this move is political and that is where the Arroyo government good at – mamulitika. (At siguro gusto lang nilang magpabango sa nga Hapon).

The good thing is the music event and other related activities seek to highlight the long-standing friendship and cooperation between Japan and Philippines. The government is looking forward to seeing a more strengthened and expanded ties manifested in increased people-to people interaction. People interaction is the best tool for continuous mutual understanding.

That is what I did when I accompanied Cris watching the concert that night. Now I am enjoying the mutual understanding developed after that musical event, we became officially lovers.