Wellington-based performance artist and musician Sachie Mikawa's solo show Fish Saw retraces five generations of her mother's family in Japan.
Wellington-based performance artist and musician Sachie Mikawa's solo show Fish Saw retraces five generations of her mother's family in Japan.
The Soundtrack to My Life: Japanese musician and performance artist Sachie Mikawa, who co-wrote her solo show “Fish Saw”and composed the score, shares some of her musical milestones.
ADESTE FIDELES / O Come, All Ye Faithful, Christmas carol attributed to John Francis Wade (1744)
In Japan, my mum hada restaurant about a 30-minute drive from home and we’d start singing as soon as we got in the car. When I was about 7, she sang this [in Japanese] and I thought it was the most beautiful sound I’d ever heard. I just remember the air in the car felt different.
My show, Fish Saw, is set in Sendai, the fishing town where my mother was born and lived right on the water [Mikawa’s mother and sister survived the 2011 tsunami, which swept away their home, but several close family members were lost]. The story is about five generations of my mum’s family who lived in that same place, which was once a brothel and the oldest noodle shop in town.
My parents had the album [Cookin’ with the Miles Davis Quintet] and started taking me to their friends’ jazz clubs when I was 2. People would give them stink eyes for bringing a baby. By the end, they’d be so impressed because I’d listened to the whole two-hour set. I’m not a jazz musician, but I’ve definitely been influenced by it. I still play jazz to get people in the mood before some of my shows.
Mikawa grew up in Sendai, a coastal city that was devastated by the 2011 tsunami.
INTERMEZZO NO. 2 IN A MAJOR, Brahms (1893)
I listen to [Canadian pianist] Glenn Gould playing this piece when I see a lot of sadness in hard times and need some beauty in my life. When I lived in Los Angeles, there were no trees, nothing green, no parks you could walk to — just traffic and all that noise. I’d go home and play this to remember how beautiful things can be.
PSALM 130: DU FOND DE L’ABIME / Out of the Depths, Lili Boulanger (1917)
French composer Lili Boulanger was the first woman to win the Prix de Rome, at the age of 19, but she faced a lot of discrimination and was already fragile physically [she died from intestinal tuberculosis five years later]. My music mentor and friend in Seattle sent me an old concert programme that featured her music and I couldn’t believe I didn’t know her. She’s amazing, though she’s not a household name. It’s a very dark piece. I don’t know ... it just makes me feel like I’m not alone.
THE GIRL WHO FELL FROM THE SKY, Joe Hisaishi (1986)
Castle in the Sky was the first Studio Ghibli film I ever saw, when I was 8. It’s very magical — this is the opening theme. I remember sitting in the movie theatre listening to it and thinking my life will not be the same after this. I’m not sure exactly why it impacted me so much. It was so different from Japanese music and it’s been the most influential, because now I write music for shows.
— As told to Joanna Wane
• Sachie Mikawa, who’s based in Wellington, plays multiple characters, including a fish, in her multimedia theatre show, Fish Saw, at Bats Theatre in Wellington, March 28-April 1, and at Auckland’s Basement Theatre, April 4-6.
