honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted at 2:06 p.m., Thursday, November 15, 2007

Sanshin concert Nov. 27 features Japanese sensei

Advertiser Staff

Hawaii audiences will have the rare opportunity to enjoy an Okinawan music and dance concert spotlighting a Living National Treasure of Japan in sanshin (three-stringed Okinawan instrument) when Choichi Terukina-Sensei from Okinawa, Japan, headlines the "14th Annual Tobe Uta Sanshin 2007 in Hawaii!" Tuesday evening, Nov. 27, at the Hawaii Theatre.

The commemorative performance marks Afuso-ryu Gensei Kai's 80th anniversary.

The program is presented by the Ryukyu Koten Afuso-ryu Ongaku Kenkyu Choichi Kai of Okinawa and its Hawaii school, Afuso-ryu Gensei Kai Hawaii Shibu.

Joining Terukina-Sensei and his students for this first Hawaii performance will be four "Super Sensei" from the Tamagusuku School of Dance in Okinawa. This group, the "best of Okinawa's best," will be accompanied by a contingent of over 70 members and supporters of Terukina-Sensei's sanshin organization. The four "Super Sensei" are Setsuko Tamagusuku-Sensei, Mieko Kinjo-Sensei, Hideko Tamagusuku-Sensei and Yoshiko Tanita-Sensei. The audience will also be treated to song and dance numbers by performers from Chinen Village, Terukina-Sensei's home village in southeastern Okinawa. They will perform dances rarely seen outside of their village.

"Tobe Uta Sanshin 2007 in Hawaii!" will also feature over 50 performers from Hawaii, including students from Afuso-ryu Gensei Kai Hawaii Shibu, the only Afuso-ryu school of sanshin outside of Japan. The Hawaii chapter is headed by Grant Murata-Sensei, who met Terukina-Sensei for the first time in the mid-1980s. Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann also has a cameo role in the concert.

The program will begin at 6:30 p.m.; doors will open at 6. General admission is $30. Tickets for students, senior citizens, military and Hawaii Theatre members are $20; and VIP tickets, which includes Premium Seating and a concert reception, are $100. There is $2 surcharge to each ticket for the Hawaii Theatre Restoration Fee.

Tickets can be purchased at the Hawaii Theatre box office Tuesday-Saturday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. (1130 Bethel St., phone: 528.0506), or on-line at www.hawaiitheatre.com.