A performance of Noh, a traditional Japanese art form, will be held in Sydney this month. We spoke to Motonori Umewaka, a Noh performer who will appear at the performance, and Sumiyo Egawa, who has been hosting a community Noh singing group in Sydney for 20 years.
According to the organiser of the performance to be held at the Scots Church Sydney on the 16th, this is the first time that a traditional Japanese Noh performance has been staged in Sydney.
Motonori Umewaka, who is flying from Japan to perform, is a renowned Noh actor and holds the Important Intangible Cultural Property, which recognized by the Japanese government. Mr Umewaka also is a representative director of the Japan Traditional Arts and Culture Foundation.
Sydneysider Sumiyo Egawa was born into an old family in Tokyo and was taught Noh by experts from an early age. After being sent to Sydney as an expat for work, he started a Noh singing group called ‘Goyoukai’ with like-minded people he was introduced to.
Mr Egawa has given lectures on Noh in Sydney and elsewhere, and performed a Noh dance at a Noh stage reconstruction event at the Japanese Garden in Cowra, New South Wales. He also participated in the production and performance of the English Noh play ‘Oppenheimer’ produced by Emeritus Professor Alan Mallett of the University of Sydney.
In this interview, we also spoke to two of the members of Goyokai.
