Rehearsal for a press conference

Some of you may know that my husband, JF, and I went to Japan last fall, to film part of a documentary on our taiko (Japanese drum) group, Arashi Daiko. It will be a one-hour episode in a full 13 episode series produced by Mixed Media Productions, to be broadcast on ARTV and Radio Canada. Montreal musicians from around the world were the focus for this series, along with visits to 12 different countries - Madagascar, Morocco, Vietnam, India, Chad, Bolivia to name just a few. Quite an experience for us, and I'm really looking forward to the entire series.

Yesterday we had to rehearse for a press conference this coming Wednesday that will introduce this show to the media - our chance to "pitch" the series and garner as much interest in it as possible, and hopefully lots of coverage in the media.

Musical director and percussionist extraordinaire, Luc Boivin, led 22 musicians in a modified version of an excerpt of Antonin Dvorak's "From the New World" (La Symphonie du Nouveau Monde). In four hours of rehearsal he managed to assemble us all in a piece that allows each group to shine in their own way. I think we'll have to tone the taiko down though, since we were too loud. We're always too loud.

This rehearsal session was also being filmed for the final episode of the series - that's me and JF on the upright taiko. Patrice Massenet, carrying the camera, was filming us in Japan as well. An amazingly talented cinematographer.

Here are some of the other musicians going through their parts while we took a bit of a break. Luc seemed pretty happy at the end of the day. Here's hoping that everything goes well on Wednesday! You probably already know I'll be giving you an update ☺
_____________________________________________________________

Just a little add-on to Friday's post... My sister in Edmonton emailed me after reading that post and then I wrote back to her last night in a veritable weep-fest, pouring out a bunch of stuff that I've been clutching onto for two years. I know now that I've been hanging onto so much pain around my mother's death because it's all tied into the negative feelings I have about myself. Hmm, that sounds worse than it is. I don't hate myself! But I am hard on myself. And this may not sound like a revelation, but it is. I feel better. Another wee step...