When You Call My Name audio by Masako Fukui
With Satsuki Odamura (Tibetan gongs)
Mayu Kanamori, Shingo Usami and Arisa Yura (Voices)
Artist Statement:
The unembellished voices of three Japanese Australians enumerating 208 names would make a powerful audio memorial, perhaps with another singular sonic element – Tibetan bells – punctuating the transition between the voices.
The final 15 track audio piece is not what I had initially envisioned. Once I began adding the bells, I couldn’t stop, and I left them randomly scattered, like unexpected encounters.
My hope is that every time you hear these names, they will sound different, and you’ll be drawn closer to the utter uniqueness of each individual, prompting you to ask who is behind the name? The significance of this is not closure, but a personal honouring and communal remembrance, lest we forget.
Artist:
Masako Fukui
Masako Fukui is an independent audio producer and writer living and working on the Lands of the Cammeraygal people in Sydney, Australia. Born in India, she has lived in Japan and Australia.
Music
Satsuki Odamura (Tibetan gongs)
Satsuki Odamura is a master of the koto. A representative of the Koto Music Institute of Australia, Satsuki has pioneered the introduction of teaching and performing of this ancient Japanese instrument since her arrival in Australia. Satsuki has performed with critical success in Japan, Europe, former Soviet Union, USA, South-East Asia, and of course Australia.
Voices:
Mayu Kanamori
Mayu Kanamori is a Japanese Australian artist working across mediums of photography, video, performance, and poetry.
Shingo Usami
Shingo Usami is a Sydney based Japanese actor who has worked extensively in theatre, film, TV, and voiceover in Australia since 1998. His recent TV and film credits include the American network AMC’s TV series ‘The Terror: Infamy’, and Apple TV’s ‘Invasion’. Other film and TV credits include ‘Unbroken’, ‘Paper Planes’, ‘Emperor’, ‘Red Dog’, ‘Broken Sun’, ‘The Pacific’, and ‘Curtin’. His theatre credits include ‘Twelfth Night’, ‘Measure for Measure’, ‘Servant of Two Masters’, ‘The Floating World’, ‘Coup d’Etat’, ‘Sadako and The Thousand Paper Cranes’, and the Australian tour of ‘Miss Saigon’ 2007/2008. In 2023, he co-directed and acted in the iconic Japanese play ‘The Face of Jizo’ by Hisashi Inoue, for which he received a nomination for the Sydney Theatre Awards and Time Out Arts and Culture Awards.
Arisa Yura
Arisa Yura is a Japanese Australian actor, voice artist, writer, and taiko drummer, working extensively across theatre, film, radio, and television.