The Seppaku Pistols, who fuse Japanese traditional instruments with boisterous live performances, will play a free show at the Walthamstow art gallery on Sunday 4th August
A punk band from Japan who play traditional Japanese instruments will play a free show at the William Morris Gallery next month.
Revellers can expect an eclectic fusion of Japanese folk and punk-rock on Sunday 4th August, from 12pm to 1pm, for the Seppaku Pistols’ debut performance in Walthamstow.
The show is part of the Art Without Heroes events programme, which includes the largest ever exhibition in the UK dedicated to Mingei, the influential Japanese folk-craft movement of the 1920s and 1930s.
Seppuku Pistols play traditional Japanese instruments such as the taiko drums, the bell, the shamisen and the bamboo flute, with chaotic fervor. Seeing a performance from Seppuku Pistols, in their folk costume and ‘setta’ footwear, is like travelling back in time to the Japanese Edo era of 150 years ago.
At their guerrilla live performances held throughout Japan, they call out to the public, “We are rebelling against the convenience of modern world and rally for a return to a more simple life.”
Seppuku Pistols was started by four ex-punks because of the Great East Japan Earthquake and the nuclear power plant explosion in 2011. Their very first performance was on the line of the no-entry-zone around the nuclear power plant. Since then, they have been “rebelling against the deceptive modernisation in the indigenous Edo style way” and have about 30 members all over Japan.
The free performance starts at 12pm, and it is recommended that people arrive ten minutes before the start.
A ‘geta’ (traditional Japanese footwear resembling flip-flops) making workshop (for adults) follows this performance at 2pm.
Read more and book for this event here
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