War Sum Up
A multimedia manga music event on the nature of war, ghosts and superheroes.
War Sum Up is an ultra-contemporary audio-visual spectacle that fuses classic warrior texts from Japanese Noh theatre with warmongering manga graphics, surreal costumes and a live music mash-up of contemporary choral music, electronica and melodious chamber pop.
Performed by the assembled ‘Warriors’ of the Latvian Radio Choir to an extraordinary soundworld created by British symphonic pop orchestra The Irrepressibles and Latvian composer Santa Ratniece, the libretto tells the story of three archetypes of war. First, the soldier, back from the front and suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Then, the warrior, killed in battle and cast into Purgatory. Finally, the spy, captured in war but soon to be transformed…
As each character plays out their own story to a digital storm of striking manga graphics, the totality of war is revealed – from fantasy-fuelled power games to the here-and-now horrors of conflict on the ground.
War Sum Up is devised and created by Kirsten Dehlholm’s Danish performance pioneers Hotel Pro Forma in collaboration with an international team including: The Irrepressibles, composers Santa Ratniece and Gilbert Nouno, the Latvian Radio Choir, conductor Kaspars Putnins, fashion designer Henrik Vibskov and manga artist Hikaru Hayashi.
