ISLAMABAD: Professor Chitose Okada is no stranger to the traditional literature of the remote valleys of Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B).
She is on a mission to preserve the ancient heritage of the region for future generations in an age where the fascination for oral storytelling is being replaced by technology.
Okada shared snippets of her research on Baltistan culture at a dinner hosted by Toshikazu Isomura, the counsellor public affairs at the Embassy of Japan, on Tuesday evening.
A professor of Music Education at the Research Institute of Education in the Momoyama Gakuin University in Izumi, Okada has dedicated the last two decades of her life to learning, translating and documenting an epic poem that is part of an oral storytelling tradition that has been passed down generations in G-B.
Preservation of the ancient
Balti heritage is at the heart of Okada’s work, which has led her to translate the poem into Balti, English and Japanese with plans to publish the translated works soon.
She also shared video footage of the late Balti folk singer Kacho Heden Khan, saying she had become curious to explore his story when she could not completely comprehend the language.
The folklore revolves around a hero and a spiritual man, Kaiser, and follows him through different phases of life such as his marriage to Brhmo, raising their children and struggling to resolve conflict among the community through successive chapters.
Furthermore, Okada said she was particularly drawn to the festive aura, lyrical content and rhythmic singing that punctuated the narrative to which the audience responded by clapping fervently. “Skardu winters are beautiful as people sit in a room around a storyteller, clapping and dancing,” said Okada.
She explained how the oral storytelling tradition was on smooth decline since the older generation had reservations sharing stories owing to cultural or religious constraints.
It took Okada about 15 years to learn the Balti language and communicating with the locals helped hone her acumen about the land and its people. Through her work, Okada aims to revive the fading tradition and reach out to a global audience.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 18th, 2014.
