YPAM

Sayonakidori

MMLAB theatre

Sayonakidori − an onomatopoeic soundscape where distant echoes of Japan resonate through a European gaze.

• Lithuania
• Dance
• Sound/Music
• Site-Specific

Sayonakidori is a landscape of onomatopoeia. The composer and director Agnė Matulevičiūtė visited Nijō Castle to learn about the unique architectural structure and its floors, which produce sounds similar to the voices of birds. The "nightingale floor" is a myth, or a security system to defend against intruders or simply an unintentional architectural mistake. The artist is interested in this myth that is still being written down and told by someone. This duality opens up particularly broad and interesting contexts and themes for performance making. The Nightingale inspired her to create a work for the building, like an instrument, playing with the invisible, which can only be heard and vice versa. It combines music and dance, where the performers themselves will shape the sonic fabric, using their bodies and voices. The themes come from the observation of Japanese culture through the eyes of a European: safety, fear of the other, ghost culture, explorations of the phenomenon of the uncomfortable. The sound technology of the Nightingale Corridor used for security inspires themes of attack, defence and privacy. Security here is both an inner state and a fear of the insecurity of the world.