(日本語は下にあります)
Oneiric Caravan is finally under way! Currently we are taking a short break back in Tokyo between the Kyushu leg and Kansai leg of the trip and wanted to give a quick summary of our first two shows.
First off, the folks who worked with us in Kyushu (producer wood/water records Ishii-san and everyone else) were incredibly hospitable and kind, putting five of us (Overture and Sheeprint) up every night and driving us and all of our luggage all over the island from houses to venues to dinner to train stations and so on. We look forward to spending time with them in the future!
The first show was in Hita, roughly halfway between Beppu and Fukuoka, at Liberte, a small cinema run by Hara-san and his partner. It is a beautiful cinema with a large lobby and small gallery space and they screen a wide variety of films. Although located in an out-of-the-way town it has forever altered my desired travel route for entering and leaving Beppu.
The performance was a mercifully soft start as the mask making and Storytellers was advertised for children. And though we never considered the performance for children the whole experience was somehow a great success, the children really getting into making their own masks and surprisingly enjoying our storytelling and animations.
The mask making and screening was in the afternoon and then in the evening Sheeprint played at the front of the theater and we drew in response to their music, using a video camera and projector to display what we were doing on the screen behind the band. This too was more of a success than we had considered and we look forward to doing something similar in Nagoya and also in Osaka.
Still, there is much to change and we are learning with every performance.
The following evening, after a long car ride, some excellent pastries and a bath in a mountainside onsen, we were in Fukuoka, performing Storytellers with Sheeprint in a show with other bands. The members of these other bands, Autumn Leaf and Awamok, were a friendly and boisterous group of guys very interested in creating a more mutually supportive artist and community environment in Fukuoka, and they treated us like old friends.
As for the performance, Storytellers with Sheeprint backing all went very well and we can't wait for the next opportunity (Sat.)!
All in all it was an amazing experience and we'll definitely be making our way back down to see these folks again in the not-too-distant future.
(More photos of the trip on our flickr account!)
Oneiric Caravanツアーの九州公演、日田・福岡とも無事終了しました！
(今回佐賀が中止になったのは残念でしたが、また次の機会に！)
まず全公演の初日（８/13）である日田。
ここは日田シネマテーク・リベルテという、とっても素敵な映画館＆カフェでの開催でした。
昼の部は、親子でのマスク（仮面）作りワークショップ＆Storytellers日田・キッズバージョン（物語を、少しシンプルにわかりやすくしたものです）。
このワークショップ、自由度全開の子供たちの創作意欲が爆発する中、overture&sheeprintのメンバーをはじめとする大人たちもそれに負けじと作り、本当に良い時間をすごすことができました。
どの子もすごい集中力で仮面を作り、その後の上映では力尽きて倒れてる子も（笑）それだけ真剣にやってくれてうれしいです！
マスクをつけたままでスクリーンをじっと見つめてたみんなの顔、写真には撮れてないけど脳裏に焼きついていますよー！
夜の部は、sheeprintのライブ。overtureはライブドローイングで参加しました。
このライブは贅沢にも映画館のスクリーンにドローイングの様子を映し出すというもので、なかなかできない経験をさせてもらいました。
そして次の日８/１４の福岡公演は、薬院のspace IDEという美容室の2階にあるイベントスペースで開催されました。「Moon Hare」の展示作品のなかから数点、壁面に展示もしました。
ここでは、STORYTELLERSと、sheeprintのライブ中には作品のスライドショーを流したりしました。
Awamokのみなさん、Autumn Leafのみなさん、とても楽しい方たちでした。また会いましょう！
そしてこの九州公演を成功に導いてくれたwood/water recordsのスタッフのみなさん、どうもありがとうございました！
( flickrのアカウントで他の写真を見ることができます。)
今週末からは関西です！名古屋、大阪、京都、奈良、和歌山の皆様～遊びに来てくださいね！
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