Shams El-Mutwalli Dubai

Drumming band Kharsha, founded by Matsutani Yotaro and Taryam AlKatheeri, promotes cultural unity between Japan and the United Arab Emirates. The band offers an immersive musical performance  to audiences with the overarching aim of constructing an exciting experience through traditional Japanese drumming.

Although based in Abu Dhabi, the drumming band has had quite the exposure. They performed in Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Ras-Al-Khaimah, Oman, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia. Kharsha also performed on Arabs Got Talent in Lebanon.

“I really wanted to know more about the UAE, Emirati culture and Emirati people. At the same time I wanted to show these Emirati people how Japanese culture is. About how Japanese people think, live and the traditional” elements of the culture, founder Matsutani told Arab News Japan.

This underlying intention inspired the launch of the band in 2017, after Matsutani met AlKhatheeri who had experience living in Hitachi, Japan and also launched a Japanese club at the Petroleum Institute.

Founder Matsutani– who also goes by the Arabic name Saqr meaning falcon– brought forward his understanding of the musical art from time spent as part of the Sai drumming group in Japan, when he returned to the UAE as a university student.  

“I thought it was an interesting idea to bring Japanese drums—Wadaiko—to UAE and why not perform it with Emirati people?” Matsutani said.

Wadaiko translates to mean “drums with unity” and the very method of performing using Japanese drums requires a sense of cooperation and synchronization amongst team members who must “synch our hearts together as one,” said Matsutani.

Wadaiko drums are barrel shaped and give off a strong vibration once played, one that is “tremendously strong” and loud according to the founder.

The history behind Wadaiko is rich and transformative, beginning as a method to send a message to the divine, it was then used as a communicative tool to deliver messages to troops and after World War II it became a form of entertainment.

Despite its transformation, Wadaiko still “has a really deep connection with the Japanese culture, and it embodies our Japanese people,” the founder shared with Arab News Japan.  

Kharsha intends to do more than offer a musical performance, but also hopes to bridge the cultures by having instrumentalists from both countries.

“I really wanted to show the connection between Japanese and Emirati people” that we can do “something together on the stage. I think it shows a connection between the two countries,” he said.

The band also demonstrates this bind on stage through their unique costumes. The band wears clothing representative of both nations, melding the Emirati Kandora with the Japanese Hakama—a skirt worn at traditional gatherings. They have also incorporated the Japanese Happi—a Japanese coat worn at festivals– into their attire.

In founding the band Matsutani realized that there are many similarities between the nations in the way they have overlapping values like respecting elders, as well as the importance of family and community.

Matsutani also highlighted the popularity of Japanese culture in the UAE, outlining the presence of popular Japanese products and anime.

“People grew up with watching Japanese cartoons and anime and also a lot of cars like Nissan, Honda, Toyota, is used in a lot of places in the UAE” and because of these points of contact, people have developed an interest in Japan and visited as well, Matsutani shared with Arab News Japan.

The drumming group has also performed at many notable events and used to perform annually at Manarat Al Saadiyat. Their talent and recognition also gained them offers from the Japanese Embassy in the UAE.