Japanese cultural days in Tirana

TIRANA, Feb. 16 – A concert with traditional Japanese instrumentalists will be held in Tirana on Friday, Feb. 18 as part of the first Japanese cultural week in Albania. The concert will bring on the state of the National Theatre of Opera and Ballet in Tirana the Wariki band composed of two young Japanese traditional folk entertainers.
“We at Wariki aim to play traditional folk entertainment as a theatrical art. Our art is based on Japanese tradition, and every tradition has had its beginnings. There are primordial forms and spirits. These forms and spirits combined, have built the tradition gradually. Our pioneers have refined these forms, so now it is referred to as the tradition. The tradition is not only made up from the essence of experiences and arts, but you have to understand how to use the arts effectively, and what the tradition itself is,” say the artists on their website.
Saturday and Sunday afternoon will bring several recent successful Japanese movies at the Black Box hall of the Academy of Arts as a closing event.
The Japanese Cultural Week is organized by the Japanese embassy in Italy which also covers Albania and the Japanese Consular Office in Albania with Avni Ponari as Honorary Consul.
“This is a continuation of the investments that the Japanese government has made in Albania. This cultural activity will make possible the recognition of the Japanese folk culture and at the same time the cinematographic developments there. As one of the world’s most developed countries, Japan will give a message of development and ancient Japanese culture,” said Honorary Consul Ponari in a press conference this week.