12xHolland diary (E)

click to read the personal diary of:
Bas (July) | David (August)

Diary: August 1st - 15th

August 1st 2000
Arrival by boat in Hirado harbour of the August participators of 12xHolland: painter Emeke Buitelaar (accompanied by her 15-year old son Olaf and 13-year old son Romboud); percussionist Glenn Hahn (accompanied by Ietje); lute-player David van Ooyen (accompanied by his Japanese wife Junko) and soprano Merel Ritz. After some speeches by Terayama-san and others there is a welcome party at the Matsura Museum where everybody is introduced to the hosts: mr. Yamashita of the Hirado Aquarel Club (host for Emeke); ms. Yamaguchi & ms. Kawaguchi, both of the Jagatara chorus (hosts for Merel); ms. Uchino of the Ajisai Taisho-koto group (host for David); ms. Kawakami (host for Glenn).

Bas: continues his course "Dutch for travellers" at the Matsura Museum.
Klaas: Opening of the Mon-statue with a Mochi-Maki ceremony with throwing pieces of red and white rice cake in the air. Many citizens join the event. After this, Klaas leaves Hirado.

August 2nd 2000
Meeting at the city hall with the 12xHolland August participators and mr.Shirahama, major of Hirado city. Next, is a meeting between the hosts and Emeke, Glenn, David and Merel to discuss the schedule. Like every day, many phone calls for contacting and organising (all participators carry a mobile phone).

August 3rd 2000
Glenn: has a spontaneous percussion workshop at the Yûkôkan high school with members of the brass band. In the evening, he joins the rehearsal of the Gongen taiko group in Tabira with his djembe performance.

Merel: enjoys her first dance lesson with Kitani-sensei. She gets a yukata costume and studies a flower dance.

August 4th 2000
Merel & David: perform their first Japan concert at the Tabira church with a mixed program of European and Japanese music for around 100 people. At the end, some local children and the Azami chorus group join the singing with Merel and David.

August 5th 2000
Today and tomorrow is the Hirado Haiya Summer Festival. Many events are taking place in and around the harbour of Hirado.
Emeke: construction of the New Dutch Wall wooden billboards at the compound of the former Dutch trading post. The billboards will by painted during August by Emeke and workshop participators.
Merel: has her 2nd nichibu dance lesson with Kitani-sensei. Like with many events, Bas is there to assist for the translation.
David: has a meeting with the Ajisai Taisho-koto group of Hirado. After this, he has a live-broadcasting and interview for FM-Nagasaki radio from Hirado Harbour.

August 6th 2000
Emeke: opening of the New Dutch Wall painting project with her dance improvisation (accompanied by Glenn) and her first painting action.

Today is the second day of the Hirado Haiya Summer Festival. Many events are taking place in and around the harbour of Hirado. 12xHolland joints the arm-wrestling tournament with a team of Emeke, Merel and Ietje. With a total of 16 teams, they reach the 4th raking. In the night is a spectacular firework in the harbour.

August 7th 2000
Emeke: is working on the New Dutch Wall together with the Hirado aquarel club under a burning sun and surrounded by many insects as usually. Also, the art work she brought from Holland is put into frames in preparation of the exhibition, which will be held at Shinwa Bank Hirado.

David: has his first shamisen lesson with ms. Machida-sensei. In the evening he is joining the koto ensemble with his shamisen!

August 8th 2000
Merel: has the first rehearsal for her musical "The Magic Pearl" with about 20 children at the Tasuke elementary school. At night, she move to the neighbouring island of Ikitsuki, where she performs a "Birds Concert" with David (lute) and Machida-san (flute) at the Kaihatsu Sôgô Centre. After the concert she is invited for a one-night homestay in Ikitsuki.

David: performs a solo recital at the Hikari-no-sono old people's house. After his evening concert with Merel he also is invited for a one-night homestay in Ikitsuki.
Emeke: works with some students of the art club of the Hirado high school at her New Dutch Wall project. Hereafter, she installs the works she brought from Holland in a small exhibition at the local Shinwa Bank.

Glenn: has another rehearsal with the Gongen Taiko group in Tabira.
Bas: has his last course night "Dutch for Travellers".

August 9th 2000
Behind the scene, there are official as well as unofficial meetings nearly everyday. today there is a meeting concerning the 12xHolland music days on 26th and 27th September. Today Glenn is shopping for conga's in Sasebo.

David: has a meeting with the taisho-koto group in the nearby Saza.
Emeke: with the same students as yesterday, she is continuing the New Dutch wall. At night she has an open workshop with the Hirado Aquarel Club.

August 10th 2000
Emeke: has an extended painting workshop for teachers at the elementary school of Hirado. In the evening she has a painting workshop with the theme "Holland" in Tabira (just at the other side of the Hirado Bridge).
Merel: performs a morning concert with David (lute) at the Hirado Old Peoples House. At night she is conducting the rehearsal of the Hirado chorus group Jagatara
David: after the morning concert with Merel, he leads the evening rehearsal of the ensemble Wind Ago. After this, David is meeting with lutist Momoeda-san from Tabira.
Glenn: has at night his first shakuhachi lesson with Kadoya-sensei.

Bas: after a short ceremony and with many people showing up to say bye-bye, he leaves Hirado around 15:00 o'clock - in a traditional way - by boat. The last weeks Bas was most active to assist the 12xHolland project especially concerning translating for the participators.

August 11th 2000
Merel: has her second rehearsal for the children musical "The Magic Pearl" at the Tasuke elementary school.
Glenn: gives his first Latin-Afro percussion workshop. Next, he joins the Kagura musicians and dancers, at the Kameoka Jinja, near the Hirado castle. At night, he has another rehearsal with the Gongen Taiko group.

David: is interviewed by high school students from Shikamachi. At night he has a first guitar group lesson with about 12 students.

August 12th 2000
Merel: has another nichibu dance lesson with Kitani-sensei. The NCC TV team is there to do some shooting of the lesson and to have interviews with Merel and Kitani-sensei. NCC TV is preparing a 12xHolland documentary, which will be broadcasted on September 2nd.
Glenn: performs a mini-concert at the 12xHolland stage in the harbour of Hirado. For about 400 people, he also speaks about the importance of the Amazon rain forest. Also, NCC TV is doing some shooting of Glenn's performance. After the concert is the weekly Saturday night firework.
Emeke: stays tonight in Southern Hirado, where she is working on a wall painting at the Japan Healing Science Centre in Tsuyoshi.

August 13th 2000
Glenn: has his second Latin-Afro percussion workshop, this time outside at the 12xHolland stage in the port. A jembe group comes all the way from Sasebo (a one hour ride) to join the session. Next Glenn has a street performance at the omatsuri (=festival) in Usuka village.

August 14th 2000
Glenn: has again a Latin Afro percussion workshop at the 12xHolland Corner
David: has a shamisen lesson with Machida-sensei. Beside the scheduled lessons, he is so enthusiastic that he visits Machida-sensei nearly daily for playing the shamisen.

August 15th 2000
Emeke: has her second Shodo lesson with Riichiro Tateischi-sensei.
Glenn: has a performance at the Haifuku-cho Summer Festival.