‘It’s a very special festival, and we are so proud we’re still able to do it’

Fiona Umetsu from Foyle Obon speaks to Aine Toner abountd why the Derry-based celebration is one of a kind in Europe

AJAPANESE arts organisation based in Derry is celebrating its 10th birthday this month. Foyle Obon, whose aim is to build community and understanding through celebrating and sharing Japanese arts, will showcase its 10th festival on May 18.

There will be a guest performance by RAW Taiko from Canada — taiko drumming is an energetic form of team drumming with its roots in Japan.

“Everything comes out of those conversations of, I wonder if we could manage taiko drumming here in Derry? Everything has come out of, wouldn’t it be grand if we could have an Obon festival here in Derry?” says Fiona Umetsu who leads the organisation.

“Obon is a summer festival; in Japan, it’s in August but our Obon is in May because everybody goes home for actual Obon. We always held it before schools broke up and we knew everyone would disperse for summer and we’d never get them back again.

“Obon itself comes from the Buddhist tradition and Japanese tradition who believe the spirits of their ancestors come back to earth and they welcome them back with lanterns and then for a period of three days, there’s a lot of good food. Every region does it differently as well.”

For Fiona and her husband, who is from Japan, Obon is like ‘Christmas and Halloween’.

“There are many, many Obon festivals with the Japanese diaspora across North and South America. We are currently the only one in Europe.

“We have a quite small Japanese community here but so we’re delighted to be the only the only one at the moment in Europe, many other different Japanese festivals but the only Obon festival and we’re hanging on to that.”

Fiona, who teaches taiko drumming, felt the experience could be a great force for Northern Ireland, previously bringing two primary schools from Claudy together to enjoy the instrument.

“The first year of the festival, because obviously we would have those young people come and perform and obviously their parents, their grannies, their aunties goes to see everybody,” she says.

“I knew everybody, and they’d come to pick up their kids and I knew the teachers but it was the first time that we were bringing both sides of our community in Claudy together at the festival and it was like, Oh my god, this is actually really brilliant.

“We didn’t really stop to think it through too much that it would be a great way to bring both sides of the community together in that way. But it is very welcoming.”

Fiona puts the concept of safety as top priority, for those attending the festival and those participating. Kindness is key.

“When you come to the festival, it’s just really good people and everyone’s there for the reason that they love these art forms and they want to come and see their kid on the stage or their granny on the stage or whoever’s on the stage.

“It’s a very special festival, we’re so proud that we’re still we’re still able to do it, with the current climate. It’s challenging every year but we really work hard at it.”

Obon will also have performances at the festival from their taiko for carers groups, a yearlong programme of using taiko as a vehicle for improving health and wellbeing of carers.

“We did a year-long programme with adults for mental health and wellbeing to explore a piece of research on what taiko can do for your mental health and wellbeing,” explains Fiona, who devised and is delivering the programme.

“What we do is we bring groups together for six weeks, and they come together, play taiko, and then we share a lunch together.

“I call it a time to breathe. Taiko drumming, we’ve been saying for years, people come out of it and say they feel so much better, lighter and happier.

“The fact that you’re in flow for such a period of time you’re focusing on trying to learn something, you’re working with your team.

“If you’re not there, people

‘There’s a lot of respect for yourself and for your teacher, for the art form’

notice, so it works again to kind of combat isolation, especially post-covid. So for the carers, it was very much we wanted to create a space where they could come, they could be themselves, they didn’t have to be a carer for that they came in and we would look after them.

“We would feed them, water them, make sure that they had just this morning where they can breathe and they can enjoy themselves.”

The festival will also have performances from Himawari Taiko, a group of adults who participated in the Ulster University research project. The study investigated the effects of participating in taiko drumming classes on individual psychological wellbeing and sense of community belonging.

“We just always knew, myself and my husband when we were coming up with these mad ideas, we knew that there was just so much good that could come out of it,” says Fiona of developing the festival.

“Taiko is taught through four principles. There’s a lot of respect for yourself and for your teacher, for the art form. It’s quite visceral and it requires every participant to show up and own their voice, own their space in the world. It builds confidence, it’s very empowering. I just love it that much, I can’t say enough good about it.

“It’s such a brilliant way to bring the Japanese community together, to provide opportunities for employment as well and to provide opportunities for training throughout the year as well and support artists and support facilitation,” continues Fiona.

“And also, their kids come and it’s really all hands to the pump. It’s very much a community endeavour festival.

“This is our 10th year and you see the kids from the Japanese community and they’re bicultural. I love to see them because I have three half Irish half Japanese children and they love to see them with the community of bicultural kids here because they fly in and out of Japan.

“It’s a lovely space to have for them as well. Either they perform and they take part or they do workshops, or they just hang out or play games or, whatever they do around the festival, but it always feels very much like our festival that we’re all in it.”

Foyle Obon is supported by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland’s National Lottery Project Funding Programme. The Arts Council of Northern Ireland has unveiled its first 10-year strategy, detailing its new Mission, Vision and Values. To read the Arts Council of Northern Ireland’s Strategic Plan (20242034) Championing the Arts – Investing in the next 10 years visit www.artscouncil-ni.org