Japanese artists and
activists Hayakawa Chiaki and Masaya Onishi share their work on the
African Continent
(written for the Peace Boat website on January 16th, 2013
>>)
Writer, singer and NGO activist Hayakawa Chiaki brought the spirit of
Africa onto the ship, when the vessel was still far form the coast of
Africa, sailing in the Indian Ocean. Her daily lectures and singing
workshops were extremely popular, as she captured the participants'
imagination with her photography and story-telling skills. Disappointed
with Japanese society of the 80s, she travelled extensively as a
backpacker in her teens and twenties. The travels ended in Kenya, where
she met the man who was to be her husband and settled. The 46-year-old
moved the audience when talking about her experiences in Nairobi's
largest slum Kibera, where she runs the Magoso School, supplying food,
shelter and education to several hundred children living in poverty.
Having lived in the East African country for 25 years and raising a
Japanese-Kenyan family, Hayakawa Chiaki has become a bridge between both
cultures. She has published many books including "Africa and Japan",
has toured Japan giving lectures on the African continent and organizes
nature experience tours to visit Masai communities.
Several dozen participants, from teenage to retirement age, joined
Hayakawa Chiaki's choir onboard. They practised well-known Kenyan songs
like "Jambo" and learnt to play the djembe drum and the kayamba, a
rattle made from reeds filled with seeds or small beads. The group
finally performed during African Night, wearing colourful Kanga fabrics
which they had bought on the African Market which Ms Hayakawa had
organised. Fundraising activities onboard raised 100,000 yen, in aid of
the Magoso School and projects in prisons in Kenya. In addition, parts
of the sales of handmade textiles, jewellery and artwork will be used to
support these projects.
For Hayakawa Chiaki the voyage was a real family trip. She brought her
children Maya, 22, and Yuta, 16 (left) along - as well as her grandson
Amari (right), 6, who always found participants willing to play
hide-and-seek or to dance with him. He was said to be the "most popular
man onboard". Amari's mother, Maya held a lecture about her work in a
Nairobi prison, where she supports prisoners' reintegration into
society.
As in previous voyages the Japanese percussionist Masaya Onishi joined
Hayakawa Chiaki as a guest educator. He taught participants how to play
the Ngoma drum and joined in spontaneous jam sessions until late at
night. The 38-year-old became a drummer by pure chance. Originally he
was just looking for a percussion instrument to gain a better sense of
rhythm on the guitar - but the Ngoma drum soon became more than a means
to an end. After some years as a street musician in Japan, Masaya Onishi
followed the beat of his heart, which brought him to a tiny village
near Nairobi, where he met Swaleh Mwatela Masai. The traditional
musician taught him the Sengenya method and even adopted the young man,
who has grown up as an orphan, as his 20th "son". Living in Kenya for
eight years, it was only a matter of time until Onishi Masaya's paths
were to cross with fellow expat-musician Hayakawa Chiaki.
One day, when Ms Hayakawa and Mr Masaya were practising for the African
Night, a participant started to dance spontaneously to the quick rhythm
of the drum. It was Suzuki Madoka ("Madu"), a 23 year old hip hop
performer from Tokyo, who has been dancing all over the ship and in the
ports of call. "Music and dance comes just naturally to African people"
she observed. "In Japan many people are too shy to express themselves,
because we are taught to compare ourselves with another." Asked to join
in the presentation, she simply borrowed an "African" looking scarf from
her friend and went on stage - no need for practice. Suzuki Madoka
started ballet at the age of 3 and turned to hip hop when she was 15. "I
feel that words aren't everything" she shared. "We sometimes get hurt
because of words. But we don't get hurt through music, dance, or art."
She worked as a volunteer in one the Peace Boat Centres in Japan for one
year to gain a discount on the voyage and find an answer to the
question that had been in her mind for very long: Why do people all over
the world dance? During an overland tour to Soweto township near
Johannesburg, she could communicate with local youths despite the
language barrier - by joining in dance sessions. "I felt the power and
strength of the people who had been through the hardships of apartheid"
she said. "Music and dance enpower the powerless."
In 2004, Onishi Masaya started to support traditional African musicians
and communities through the JIWE project. When violent riots erupted in
the Kibera slum after the contested elections in 2007, it was the local
children who suffered the most. As a testimony of their memories, both
guest lecturers brought pictures onto the ship, which the children
painted. They depicted men with machetes and machine-guns, huts set on
fire and people covered with their own blood. The two grass-roots
activists recorded music played by the children and sold the CDs to
raise money for stationery and other items the children need. Currently
Masaya Onishi is in the process of filming a documentary about the
Magoso School.
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