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Show Public Law 109-441 - Preservation ojJapanese American World War II Confinement Sites KEET-TV Highlights Japanese American Incarceration Sites' Jazz Bands in New Documentary As young Japanese Americans filed into confinement sites, forcibly removed from their friends, schools, and neighborhoods, they brought with them a totally American art form-jazz music. With help from a 2011 NPS Japanese American Confinement Sites grant of $96,465, KEET -TV (PBS, Eureka, CA) produced, promoted, broadcast, and distributed a one-hour documentary about the jazz bands that Japanese Americans started while incarcerated during World War II. The documentary is called Searchlight Serenade: Big Bands in the WWIIJapanese American Incarceration Camps. "All of the camps had dance bands," recalled George Yoshida, who remembered the thrill of playing jazz at Poston. In all, 20 bands were created and thrived in 13 "assembly centers" and incarceration sites from 1941 to 1945. Carrying this quintessential form of American music behind barbed wire, Yoshida explained, "was certainly a matter of healing in my self-image, healing my frustration about being put in the camps, being labeled an alien." Playing in the band, he said, was about "more than just having fun." Featured in the documentary are nine musicians-big band trumpet players, saxophonists, and singerswhose tunes provided a soulful escape from prison life. Frances "Chickie" Ishihara White, who sang with the Harmonaires at Puyallup Assembly Center, remembered, "that was the time to forget that we were incarcerated ... It was a very good thing for everyone." In the film, jazz melodies evoke the energy of the 1940s, even as KEET -TV producers artistically contrast the music with the musicians' recollections and historic photos of confinement. Also illustrating the documentary is award-winning woodblock animation by artist Amy Uyeki, whose inspiration for the animated stories came from interviews, archival footage, and her own parents' experiences at Gila River and Minidoka. KEET -TV distributed the documentary to public television stations nationwide. Also, film screenings were held in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and Portland, followed by panel discussions with some of the musicians featured in the documentary and KEET -TV producers. A website, www. searchlight-serenade.org, was also created for the project, and includes a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the documentary. The website will be maintained and the film aired on American screens through 2017, the length of the music and television rights for the documentary. George Yoshida jams for the documentary film crew. Also an advisor for the project, he was "the guiding light and inspiration behind Searchlight Serenade." Photo courtesy: KEET-lV - photo by Claire Reynolds Frances "Chickie" Ishihara White reminisces about singing with the Harmonaires at Puyallup Assembly Center, also known as "Camp Harmony." Photo courtesy: KEET-TV - photo by Claire Reynolds 19 |
