Sakurazaka Asylum 2019
The annual Sakurazaka Asylum, a festival of music and art, takes place next week on Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th February. As previously, many live shows and events are held not just at the main venue of Sakurazaka Theatre in Naha but also in the surrounding live houses, cafes and bars. The aim of the festival is “to create a place where various cultures interact and new inspiration is born”.
The large number of artists taking part come from Japan and other parts of Asia as well as from Okinawa. The focus is on Asian indie bands and singers rather than on roots music. Some of the musicians from Okinawa are already very familiar faces here and there are surely not many in Okinawa who haven’t already seen the likes of Kachimba4 and Maltese Rock. For those interested in more traditional Okinawan music there will be a performance by Miyako Island singer Hirara.
Singer-songwriter tidanomiyuki is one of the most interesting of the Okinawan contingent and she will play on the Saturday afternoon. Among those invited from overseas is the exciting Korean guitar and drums duo Laybricks and they will perform at different venues on both days of the festival.
Laybricks
Also appearing on both days are Indonesian dream-pop and indie rock band lightcraft who will be here for the first time. Another guitar and drums pair worth looking out for are Harahells. These young women from Okinawa sing quirky songs about food and claim to be better at eating than music.
Full details of all the artists and a schedule of when and where they are playing can be found on the Sakurazaka Asylum website. The festival coincides as usual with the Trans Asia Music Meeting which is held at the same main venue from the 8th to the 10th. For this networking event there will be presentations by music professionals from Japan, South Korea, China, Mongolia, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and India.
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