ASIA PACIFIC WATABOSHI MUSIC FESTIVAL
- CELEBRATION OF LIFE -
- The ultimate objective is to create awareness in society that persons with disabilities too have their special talents.
- Persons with disabilities, like able people, have feelings and thoughts too, and the best means to appreciate each other is through music.
- It is also aimed to promote the concept that persons with disabilities should not be alienated from the society in the hope that music will bridge the gaps between the persons with disabilities and able people.
WHAT IS THE WATABOSHI MUSIC FESTIVAL?
The Wataboshi Music Festival was first started when a collection of poems were written by students from the Special School for Disabled Children in Nara, Japan. A group of amateur musicians and singers then added melodies to the poems and these songs were performed in the 1st Wataboshi Concert in Nara in April 1975. The concert was a great success, and a record was made which was sold all over Japan, and many persons with disabilities from other prefectures started submitting poems to Tanpopo-No-Ye. Hence, in the following year, the 1st Nation-wide Wataboshi Music Festival was held. Subsequently, it become an annual event in Nara. The 27th Wataboshi Music Festival was held on August 4, 2002.
Other cities and prefectures all over Japan started organizing their own Wataboshi concert. So for, there are about 40 to 50 concerts held yearly with the coordination of Tanpopo's staff and many volunteers.
In International Year of Disabled Persons of 1981, we held "International Wataboshi Music Festival" in Japan and invited the persons with disabilities and helpers, the groups of performers from ten countries of the world. And commemorating the last year of the Decade of Disabled Persons UN, we held "International Wataboshi Music Festival" in 1992 in Japan again.
On August 21st, 1991 we had "The 1st Asia Wataboshi Music Festival" inviting the persons with disabilities and the group of helpers to Singapore. After the Festival, the Asia Wataboshi Networking Conference was held in Singapore. At the Conference, it was decided to hold "Asia Wataboshi Music Festival" in Asian cities in turn every two years.
We had the second Festival in 1993, in Seoul, Korea, the third in 1995, in Shanghai, China, the forth in Bangkok, Thailand, the fifth in Nara, Japan.
The Asia Wataboshi Networking Conference in Nara decided to continue this Festival every two years in new century too and to spread the area to Asia Pacific. According to this decision, the Asia Pacific Wataboshi Music Festival 2001 was held on October 31, 2001 in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. We are preparing to hold the Asia Pacific Wataboshi Music Festival 2003 in Brisbane, Australia.
1st Asia Wataboshi Music Festival in Singapore
August 21, 1991
participating cities (11 cities)
*Shanghai/China *Seoul/Korea *Hong Kong/China *Taipei/Taiwan *Johore Bahru/Malaysia *Manila/Philippines *Bangkok/Thailand *Moratuwa/Sri Lanka *Jakarta/Indonesia *Singapore *Nara/Japan
2nd Asia Wataboshi Music Festival in Korea
October 13, 1993 in Seoul
October 16, 1993 in Taejon
participating cities (11 cities)
*Shanghai/China *Seoul/Korea *Hong Kong/China *Taipei/Taiwan *Johore Bahru/Malaysia *Manila/Philippines *Bangkok/Thailand *Moratuwa/Sri Lanka *Jakarta/Indonesia *Singapore *Nara/Japan
3rd Asia Wataboshi Music Festival in Shanghai, China
October 22, 1995 in Shanghai
participating cities (12 cities)
*Shanghai/China *Seoul/Korea *Hong Kong/China *Taipei/Taiwan *Johore Bahru/Malaysia *Manila/Philippines *Bangkok/Thailand *Moratuwa/Sri Lanka *Jakarta/Indonesia *Singapore *Macao/China *Nara/Japan
4th Asia Wataboshi Music Festival in Bangkok, Thailand
October 18, 1997 in Bangkok
participating cities (14 cities)
*Shanghai/China *Seoul/Korea *Hong Kong/China *Taipei/Taiwan *Johore Bahru/Malaysia *Bangkok/Thailand *Moratuwa/Sri Lanka *Jakarta/Indonesia *Singapore *Macao/China *Vientiane/Laos *Ho Chi Minh/Viet Nam *Phnom Penh/Cambodia *Nara/Japan
5th Asia Wataboshi Music Festival in Nara, Japan
November 13, 1999 in Nara
participating cities (12 cities)
*Shanghai/China *Seoul/Korea *Hong Kong/China *Taipei/Taiwan *Johore Bahru/Malaysia *Bangkok/Thailand *Jakarta/Indonesia *Singapore *Ho Chi Minh/Viet Nam *Manila/Philippines *Brisbane/Australia *Nara/Japan
Asia Pacific Wataboshi Music Festival 2001 in Kaohsiung, Taiwan
October 31, 2001 in Kaohsiung
participating cities (12 cities)
*Hangzhou/China *Seoul/Korea *Hong Kong/China *Kaohsiung/Taiwan *Johore Bahru/Malaysia *Bangkok/Thailand *Jakarta/Indonesia *Singapore *Ho Chi Minh/Viet Nam *Manila/Philippines *Brisbane/Australia *Nara/Japan
 
Asia Pacific Wataboshi Music Festival 2003 in Brisbane, Australia
November 22, 2003 in Brisbane (Gala Concert)
participating cities (12 cities)
*Shanghai/China *Seoul/Korea *Hong Kong/China *Kaohsiung/Taiwan *Johore Bahru/Malaysia *Bangkok/Thailand *Jakarta/Indonesia *Singapore *Ho Chi Minh/Viet Nam *Manila/Philippines *Brisbane/Australia *Nara/Japan
The Wataboshi 2003 in Brisbane delivered a unique international blend of original music and performances inspired by the lives and experience of people with disability. The eight-day festival showcased inspiring performances by 424 artists and artwork representing almost 100 visual artists from 14 Asia Pacific cities and 5 states of Australia. The festival had a multicultural focus that identified disability culture as a part of a culturally diverse Australia. The Brisbane Festival added to the traditional, high profile Wataboshi Gala Concert a strong, community cultural development element and by doing so, planted into the wonderful original idea of 1975 a seed relevant for Wataboshi of today.
The Wataboshi 2003 program was created for general audiences - to entertain, educate and experience a wide variety of performances and events. All forms of creative expression were included and presented, many of them as personal stories of the presenters.
More than 5,000 people attended the 22 ticketed performances, 14 free events, 20 workshops and 4 forum sessions.
Images from the Wataboshi 2003 Gala Concert: Australian Wataboshi performer and Gala Concert MC ミ Julee-Anne van der Boor / Gala Concert Finale
TANPOPO and WATABOSHI
As you know, Tanpopo (dandelion) flowers are very strong against the elements of nature. Their leaves open wide to absorb the sunlight and their roots are planted deep in the earth. After blooming, the seeds (Wataboshi) fly off in the wind and again set their roots wherever they land.
The name "Tanpopo-No-Ye" was chosen to portray a bright and also strong image for this project. Known in Japan as the flower that spreads happiness, we hope to extend beyond Nara, throughout the world, to unite and bring happiness to both persons with disabilities and able people.
ASIA PACIFIC WATABOSHI MUSIC FESTIVAL
JAPAN COMMITTEE
Secretariat:Tanpopo-No-Ye Foundation
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