this calling for the exit of resident roger parks, or we have the catholic priest. we have people, we have artists all saying that he needs to go in order for sri lanka to pick up the pieces and rebuild. today of the central bank governor announcing that interest rates have been up to once again. and essentially that means higher prices for people that are already struggling with skyrocketing prices, with no fuel with no essentials. and basically, an absolute dilemma as to how to put food on the table. and one, sorry to bring you us basketball, player brittany griner is pleaded guilty to drugs charge in a russian court, but denied intentionally breaking the law. grind was speaking of the 2nd hearing of her trial that could see her sentenced to up to 10 years in prison. to time olympic gold medalist was detained in february a moscow airport. she was carrying vape cartridges containing cannabis oil which is illegal in russia.

ah, a look at the main stories are following us our, our new k prime minister bars, johnson has bowed pto, mounting pressure from within his own party and announced that he is stepping down comes after several days of high drama, which only 60 members of his government resign johnson remains defiant, and his vow to stay on as caretaker, prime minister, until his party chooses his successor. it is clearly now the will of the parliamentary, conservative party that there should be a new leader of that party there for a new prime minister. and i agree with the grow brady, the chairman of our back bench. and please that the process of choosing that new leader should begin now. and the time table will be announced next week. and i love

to day point you to cabinet, to serve as i will until the new leader is in place. several current and former cabinet ministers, including a deems a holly where she soon act and such a job as well as ben wallace of open named as potential successes. but car it is no favorite candidates. will you whittle down by conservative party lawmakers and then the wide up party membership will decide a timeline for leadership contests will be announced in the coming days. or in other stores or falling more than 400 prisoners sit on the run in nigeria after an attack on a detention facility near the capital that was claimed by i. so almost $900.00 inmates initially fed the prison during the raid on tuesday night. but around half a recaptured and another 4 died. prison staff say the attack is used, exposes to gain control of the buildings, entries and exit points. leading figures from i cell and boca ram are believed to be among those on the loose and human rights watches accused the taliban government

of committing atrocities in eastern afghanistan and operations targeting an ice hill splinter groups, rights groups. as taliban forces have been carrying out doctrines and summary executions against allege members of the islamic states, of course on province. it also says people accused of sheltering or supporting them about their homes rated and have also suffered beatings and detention. so those the headlines, this alimony is coming up later on. i will see. then the stream is coming up next. ah ah, ridge ah

years ah, getting shoes that was japanese a pano harry nakamura singing the roll of cho josiah in the royal opera house. his revival, but she needs madame a butterfly. i am from you. okay. down the stream. yellow face in 2022, or perhaps some serious catching up to do when it comes to orientalism and anti asian racism. somewhat pro companies are rethinking how the states problematic, works in a culturally appropriate way. that is, i shall to day you can join us in the comment section of each you

ah, daniel 9, a phil, so good to have all 3 of you with us. we're talking about problem mac. take all proper duck shits and you're the people to bring it. daniel. hello, please say hello to our audience around the well, tell them who you are. what you day? i. my name's daniel yolo, writer, actor filmmaker, musician associates a stretch of chinese offs. and i was combined dos company in london and found a member of continue member of beads, british e southeast asians in fish and on screen cultures and advocacy group all to have all that hello 9. know welcome to the stream. these introduce yourself to have you as around the world. hi, i'm 9 yoshida nelson. i'm a metro soprano. i've sung vicky and madame butterfly over 150 times and i am a co founder of the asian opera alliance. we advocate for asian in the upper industry, and i'm also an artistic advisor at boston. they're

a copper so much expertise. i'm excited. hello, feel welcome to the stream. please introduce yourself to our audience around the world. hi everybody. my name is phil chen. i'm a, an author, a choreographer, and a writer, and co founder a final thought for yellow face and the president of the gold standard arts foundation. a lot of my work started out around the conversations started about 6 years ago with the artistic director of new york city ballet about how to represent asian characters on stage better, which has snowballed into a much larger global conversation. but pretty much every major american go is now part of this conversation to improve how we represent asians on stages. so thank you so much for having us. i get to have you say, daniel 9. i feel one question for one is a question for all i know you will come to it some different perspectives that start on my laptop. this is why the was doing the show. i caught a headline that surprised me. made me stop. have a look here on my laptop, royal opera status. madame butterfly, with changes to respect japanese culture that drew me in. that was fascinating.

let's start the 9 out with madame a butterfly. how many times you performed? are you still counting? yeah, definitely. over a $150.00 times, right it's, it's my signature roll. all right, very good. you are a great person to tell us the story. what's the story? ab? absolutely. so it's a story of the love story and a tragedy. i won't. i won't tell you the end and i'll let you see it and you can do it yourself once you see the opera. but it is a story about a young girl who falls in love, a japanese girl who all's in love with a naval officer who comes to japan. and it's, it's their love story about how she said, and she waits for him after he goes back out to sea and waits and wait and, and hopes that one day he'll come back. let him go to fly is proper to my take. now

because of the way certain characters are portrayed, fill can you hang on a couple of the areas that makes it quite difficult to see this production in 2022 . sure. so i think a lot of opera repertory. we have to remember that comes from europe and europe has not always had the most enlightened views of people outside of the century. so exotic people orient was on it's, in many cases the stand to see asia that european creators were using to tell stories outside of their own social norms. and so that was the way it worked back then. it was really innovative. it was a way to, to create new stories and explore new themes, taboo themes, things like race that were not easy check floor and a native setting. however, these works as they continue to be beloved by generation after generation. we also have to recognize that times change our societies are a lot more mixed, and we're not just programming for european setting what we're programming for

a multiracial audience. and so in order for these art forms like opera to survive, that comes from europe. there were sort of at this crossroads where, where we're like, okay, so what do we do with this repertory but it's beautiful merits but also has sensitive issues. ready are problematic, outdated caricature versions of different races. so that's what we're grappling, especially as asian americans who are in the response. who love it so much and have a really coming. ready from a place where we don't want to see this work canceled, this is part of our, our legacy and our history as well. but the question is, how do we do it better so that we're being more inclusive and not just seeing the whole world. ready through a white man's land from 200 years ago wet, which doesn't necessarily bring true with who we are today. who are friends? the neighbors are family members. so that's what we're asking. what the question is, how do we keep these work alive? which is a, you know, if you think about it,

the opposite of capital culture. right. and i think it's important to you. sorry. it's important to also know that when you wrote this, he had never been to japan. he knew nothing about the japanese other culture. and the way he studied the japanese culture was by going to some kabuki shows in milan . and then he also talked to the japanese ambassador's wife in japan and asked about some, some folk songs. and so that is how he researched. i think i said well that this whole world, the butterfly, yeah. a fancy piece of what tank i had you going to say something? no, no. i was going to say it definitely. you know what we're saying is absolutely true . and i think a lot of european drama is kind of bill on that. i mean, the 1st grade of theaters, beef in stage was tumbling book was from alo, which was set in central asia. and it, you know, for audiences of those days,

it was incredibly exciting. i kind of think of it like james bond films and i was a kid. you'd see all these places you were never going to go to if you're working class get in britain, you would never, you know, i mean, middle class audiences in those days couldn't really, you know, go to japan. i was like, go to the moon frankly. and so we do have this kind of very dated or 9. it was entering sort of cursory, researched, you know, maybe research to the best of his, his, his abilities and resources at the time. but that, that was naturally, you know, it's a very, very superficial and kind of exhaust is always view of, of a different culture what he's like. so it's like dad, coming from a heritage that goes back to east asia. but seeing your coaching, your heritage as a stereotype, what does that feel like? what is that i well, i think the problem, the problem with it is, especially i think this is, you know, probably true in america as well in britain where, where, you know, if you're, if you're 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th generation, a lot of time you grow,

you're outside of that culture as well. so what you see is a kind of really weird portrayal of, of something you, you, you don't really know yourself and you get this kind of awful thing where, where you feel like i don't, i mean, i know i know isn't as an actor sometimes in britain you sometimes feel that you're being asked to imitate an imitation that white people do of asian people, which is really strange. i and i only way that, that none of you go fed, are you guys 2nd. ok. i always say that i never really identified as asian until people started identify me as asian and putting the into the role. and all of a sudden i was like, oh ok. what does it mean to be japanese? and i had to start and figuring out what being japanese actually meant because it was so far away from, from how i grew up yet. so i think this was also something that many other racial groups feel who are non white and who are in

a space where they're in the minority. i think that that a lot of these questions about rates also. ready if it's a uniquely asian situation, because european opera really loved orientalism as a shondra. and so you know, black singers, latino singers, other folks who are from non asian groups, were not necessarily represented on the european stages. and even the top 10 offers that are continually performed, but, but regularly there are so many asian characters that continue to be performed overseas and tornado. and what we have to think about too is not just the impact on being projected. i think that it just touched on that very well is that when we have these ideas in the broader culture about what certain people are supposed to be. so patient women are hyper submissive, but hyper sexual or their either the geisha or the tornado. right. you know, the sort of dragon lady, it fits sort of pigeonhole people into these ideas. and so we,

we tend to project these things on to asian people. whether that's, you know, kind of a weird fetishizing sexuality or, or just certain racial idea. they're just coded and you see this across the theater opera dancer, but you know, it's all, you know, the james bond movies. it's all connected in a, as a part of this broader culture. and so what a lot of asian americans like ourselves are trying to tease those things apart, connect the dots, and say ok, but within this framework, how do we keep this beautiful work alive? and so what i'm looking at is, is the royal opera house production is still set in this very traditionally oriental us place, which i think is what people are sort of uncomfortable about. and i guess my solution that i was like a lot of this work, i think that the focus on solutions that we look at. ready shakespeare, which is now, you know, 400 plus years old. i think the reason why his genius survives is because we have the freedom to adapt it and play with it. i mean, how many people can think of

a shakespearian play that is not set exactly the way shakespeare wrote it to be. and every time it's set somewhere different, it gives you a nuance or new flavor, or it gives us a different way of a mirror to our current moment. and that's what makes it powerful. and for some reason, we're very comfortable staging the magic flute in different settings or lab where you know these other operas that her beloved but the oriental hist, repertory tornado. madame a butterfly. we seemed to was just asking of us about what i, what i think why think what we should do is try to find ways to keep that music. but like shakespeare like his over production just just twisted a little bit so it doesn't have to be at that just come autos and geishas who are 15 year old girls. i mean, but so now the 14 year old girl i, i hate name. it is bringing another voice here. this is jane manami. she's a met, so soprano and she told us this a little bit earlier. haven't listened to jane. just talking about the effort that

the role opera house went to to be culturally appropriate in this current production of madame a butterfly, they spent a year consulting looks to people. this is james reaction to i think this kind of cultural research is great. and instantly a step in the right direction. but unfortunately, the upper house are still using yellow face in the show. they're still using someone else's ethnic city as a costume. and that rings pretty tone deaf for me, considering that i look like what i look like and i can't take it off when i leave the theater. and the reality for people who look like me is that hate crimes against us have risen by over 300 percent since the start of the pandemic. when i look at a production like this, what it feels like to me is that i've walked into a halloween party where every one has gotten dressed up in a bad racist costume. and there is absolutely no excuses for doing a production that looks like this in 2020 to 9 out. what is it like being on stage

with somebody who is made up to look like they're form east asia, but then not well, it's really interesting because i think i think traditions have changed a lot in, even in the last few years, i think back to when i was 1st doing my 1st bad about applies and how the makeup artist used to actually make me try and look more asia. and now i think the trend is started to be using people's own a lot more asian when you asian. well, i think i remember someone said they tried to like flatten out my face. you're somehow highlighters or, you know, i don't know, it's been many years, but there are ways to do it, you know, and make your eyes look, look more asian. and so i think traditions are changing and i think one of the most interesting things, and also one of the frustrating things is the fact that there is no actual definition of what is offensive as yellow for me. what i find offensive maybe might

be completely different from what the next person down the road participants that for me it might just be a make up or maybe putting a geisha weight on. but for some guy is making a lace of that, that is like a dance phase and, and then we got lines to dance, face down. make that face one more time. dan's face coming to us life. ok. that why would you making that face some of those folk ross is shocking. i mean, yeah, i mean 9 is right that those, those gradations of what people consider yellow face. i mean, i, i think if you will pretend it to be an asian, whether you in the makeup or not, you're kind of doing a form of yellow face, i think. but, but there is obviously the more of a things which is, which is the makeup, which is the whigs is interesting. what 9 i was talking about being a mixed race asian as well. i think, experience on a film some years ago. they wanted to look more asian, and it was, it was

a beautiful moment when the, when the makeup artist came into the, into the room. and so when she was a black woman and she looked at one look at me and she said, i'm not doing that insulting. is clear, the asian, which is, which is a nice it did or tara when she said that to you that i did i oh i yeah. i this is on youtube. i think this is a good question, phil. if i, if i do, does that sound good? oh i, i did want to clarify the difference between yellow facing and orientalism because i think that's where folks can get kind of confused. yellow face as a specific. you know, like, like, is a when you're trying to play a race that you're not as often in a caricature sort of way. i orientalism which is this larger structure is setting stories that are set in places like china, india, the middle east, where all the characters have to be from that race. i or that's part of the allure . and so i think that a work like madame a butterfly. no,

there's several different ways to talk about the specific casting. but i think let's just be clear, that yellow face is more of a caricature pretending to be a specific asian person. and then and then project so larger, you also oriental of them as a larger. yeah. like a story. yeah. okay. i, i, we understand that. all right, so a couple of thoughts coming from at youtube community watching right now. nathi says, i don't think it is important to respectfully portray people. what i want to see is an accurate portrayal of history. whether it is good or bad, instant response stand, fail, and then 9, just have a quick line to mattie that a m, i cripple 12 history. i mean, i mean i, i do think when people, to what historical accuracy we do get into a, into a kind of rough there were, i mean, i mean, people sometimes go see shakespeare and they'll see people of color and they'll say that that's not historically accurate. but if you were going to be historically actively shakes with ever won't have terrible teeth. the news is the about hold on,

let me, oh you oh wait. i say i quite like to see that i would not, i would just say so. i just say that there's videos. i mean that's the, that's the privilege we have now is that you can go back and you can watch, maria, call us, do butterfly. you can watch any star of the past, due butterfly, in any good production you want. so i think that is part of the history. the difference here is where in the performing arts we're not in the visual arts or static arts, right? so, paintings, film, sculpture, photography, those are art forms that capture the zeitgeist of a moment. in the performing arts, we have to make art that reflects the now always, whether it's theater, opera, dance, whatever. and so part of the fun and the challenge and the, the messiness of it is having to change. so if you want just tradition, just that the historical time capsule approach video, i'm sorry because it otherwise it doesn't exist. i couldn't even recreate last

nights show. exactly the way it was last night. so you know, when, when we are going to panic, we have to remember also that this is not a historical story. this is just a love story. it can be set in any time. it doesn't have to be set in the early 19 hundreds, right? so, so there's no reason that we have to keep the story in the past. all right, so i was reading to tell you what genie himself advice is 5 times you to fight versions. so maybe if he was around now, maybe he would, he would rock hill knows at this this i'm going to put this one straight team. this is from the bow kitchen watching on you che, thank you the bell. can't you for doing as, why don't you just hire asian pressing as well. i played the yeah. researching about this was not a lot of times that is what happened and a lot of times we are hired for these roles. the unfortunate thing is that these

become the only roles that we are ever hired for. so this becomes a sense of pigeon holing. you know everyone just see me as a japanese american best kind of so of course night is going to sing suzuki and butterfly. but if there's a whole bigger picture, like our stages in every oper, we do need to look like the society we live in, right? and the 2nd, we start just hiring asian singers, the thing and butterfly, we get a lot of trouble. also, if you look, we go back in history, the history between japan and china and, you know, and korea isn't any better if you're hiring a chinese soprano to thing. the lead role as, as a japanese artist, i don't know. and again, it just comes to like even even asian people can be creating caricatures of asians on stage. so i don't know if it's any better or different. the higher asians are you stock in madame butterfly 9. if you're going to be truly honest,

i am play this for the rest of your singing life. oh, fully not. and that's one of the reasons i started the asian oper alliance, a friend of mine, and asked me, you know, 9 in a, in a traditional season, how many non asian roles do you thing? and i went back and i started counting. and of course, you know, a $150.00 plus the suki is and in 10 years i had sung the read non asian roles. and so i was like, i'm to start advocating, you know, i wasn't even aware of the fact that this is what was happening. i wasn't aware of the book dear, neither. you know, that night, you know, never have to learn the book on the plus side. i never have to learn the book. i know it backwards. i know everybody like, yeah. so how can sacto, tim bo ne, spoke to us a little bit earlier. we're talking about what he thinks this issue. what are the problems here with orientalism in opera? this is what she told us. i appreciate the initiatives that some oper companies are taking to bring in authenticity to madame a butterfly. but there's still

a misunderstanding of what authentic japanese really means. i am a licensed chemo dresser and have years of experience in japanese tea ceremony and traditional das. yet i once was criticized for not being authentic enough, as suzuki. so i've been wondering what those critics expectations were. so i do hope that more companies will continue to. busy close this gap. another possible solution, of course, is to have more asian artists or artists of japanese descent in these roles in butterfly to help bring more authenticity. so if we go back to the current production of madame butterfly at the royal opera house, who we did invite to be part of the program, but they were not able to join us. there are 2 cas members of east asian heritage in an entire company of a production that is said in japan to i want to show you this. this is from oliver

mir's. he's the royal operas director of ro, opera houses, director of opera. this is what he told the guardian newspaper casting is more complicated, not least because opera as a more limited talent pool. and for example, that available to film or theater, but performing madame a butterfly with an old japanese or, or asian cast and chorus. even a majority cast and chorus is a holy, unrealistic aim, and would even be desirable. dan. yeah, i'm, i'm really struggling with, i can't understand the point he's making me. yes, i understand. i did learn about this before when i wrote an article when they did a tele road opera house with the, with, with, with wire to playing or telo. sh, a white singer. and i understand that there was a certain level of technical achievement. you have to have, you know, to, to be involved with us. i could, you can see that, but i mean that, that could you showed at the beginning of the program of the,

of the japanese singer. i mean that, that, that was, i mean, spine chilling. i know that back of my neck is incredible. i cannot. i know 9 has done a $150.00 times and probably is maybe a little bit sick of it. but it sounds like it was at roll, opera house or on my on my go see, i can it's, i mean i guess they're talking about 9 is performance. we're going to end on 9 is singing the flowering jew wet. the flower duet from me. i mean, can you tell us in 2 sentences, what is happening on the clip that we're going to end on? because we want to hear your beautiful place as well as seeing the talking on the screen. let's just set it up a little bit and where play out with it. it's an a joyous occasion of 2 friends talking about being in love. it's another oriental show and also sometimes very problematic, but it's one of the most beloved i do at, in opera cannon. all right, and i do want to give a shout out to this is from boston,

lyric oper is better by process film. i was then called b stunning film if you want to check out the whole video and 9 a. thank you so much, daniel. what a pleasure. we again end on the beautiful voice of 9. a thing in the flower you add from the production lack me. and so watching everyone see you next time, i think you're going to recognize this music. have a listen enjoy. ah

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