Video/Film
Four-channel Video, Colour, Sound, 3’03”, 4’32”, 4’09”, 4’43
5+2AP (#1/5)
0Bruce Yonemoto (b.1949) currently lives and works in Los Angeles, USA.
Before Social Media enabled political dissent and contributed to the rise of such political figures as Donald Trump, early Enka, a popular Japanese music genre, was a force for social change. Enka was first introduced as a form of oral communication to make political ideas accessible to the public as well as to avert police interference. More recently the audience for Enka songs has been older people, a musical vestige of a colonial Japanese past. Japanese-American artist Bruce Yonemoto has restored the original political intent of Enka songs by enlisting artists in Japan and Taiwan to write and sing contemporary lyrics to popular Enka melodies.
This work is a compilation of four songs, of which each variation shares the same melody. The lyrics were written and sung by Taiwanese artists, showing discontent toward the unjust society. The first part features a woman who left home to seek a better life in the capital. However, she experienced the complete opposite: a nightmare which she must condescend to her superiors. She was constantly kneeling and "kissing asses". The second part presents a protester singing about the suppression he has been through during the days on the streets facing riot police and their water cannon. The third part features a man who sings about the life in a sanatorium, being completely isolated from society. The last singer is taking the role of a religious leader making sarcastic comments on Taiwanese sovereignty, which has yet to be acknowledged by the international community.
As it is less likely that younger generations are having the ability to take care of themselves as well as their elders, one line that was sung for decades: "Mom, please take care of yourself".
