Asami, Trini-to-the bone
By Ryan Hamilton-Davis Sunday, February 14 2016
Who was this petite Japanese young woman who fell so madly in love with Trinidad and its national instrument, the steelpan, that she virtually became one of us: taking up an address in Woodbrook, Port-of-Spain, fanatical over pan music, feteing late, sapping all energy in J’ouvert morning, and transforming later in the day into one of the bevy that would be on show at the Parade of the Bands. Unfortunately, she will also die among us.
From what the past week has informed us, her name is Asami Nagakiya, 30 years old, a graduate of Senzoku Gakuen College of Music, and originally from the Sapporo-shi district in Hokkaido, Japan. More than anything else, we know it was her love for playing pan that brought her to our shores year after year — for some eight years — to play in the world’s largest pan festival, Panorama. But her name will go down in Carnival history as the young woman who was murdered in Port-of-Spain, far away from the revellers with whom she fraternised, under one of the spreaded trees of the Queen’s Park Savannah some time between Carnival Tuesday evening and Ash Wednesday.
“The first time Asami came here I saw this tiny Japanese woman who was always happy,†Marcus Ash, drill master of PCS Nitrogen Silver Stars — the band in which Asami found a musical home — recalled to Sunday Newsday last week. “Every time she came into the panyard she would always be screaming and hugging everyone.
Later, I realised that her dream was to be in Trinidad — she played steelpan in college and fell in love with it, so she wanted to be in the home of steelpan.†Ash was one of those Trinidadians with whom Nagakiya became close — so close that he is the recipient of her last body of work which she recorded just before boarding a plane to come to Trinidad for this year’s Carnival. This, her latest CD was titled Flowers, and Ash has just the one copy which Nagakiya wanted him to hear and to give her his opinion.
“I would have liked to sit with her and listen to this CD and give her my impressions personally,†Ash said. “We were actually supposed to do that on Thursday, but she was found (dead) on Ash Wednesday.†When members of Silver Stars on Thursday laid flowers at the site where she was murdered on the western end of the Queen’s Park Savannah, Ash said it pained him to know that he will never be able to tell her what he thought.
For days, the emotions of losing one Nagakiya were so great that he was unable to even break the seal on the CD, but after paying final respects, he felt strong enough to hear the collection. One of her compositions, “Cluster Amaryllis†was even aired on a popular radio talk show.
Ash enjoyed the songs. “She made sure to keep it simple, yet she used the music to create a storyline.†Each piece was named after a flower, and, according to Ash, she used the music to create an atmosphere, and build a scenery around each flower. For example, one of her songs “Hurricane Lilly†began with the light sounds of rain drops, and used the ambience of wind and rain in the background.
The work caused Ash to reflect even more on who this young woman was.
Originally from the Sapporo-shi district in Hokkaido, Japan, Nagakiya discovered steelpan when she went to Kanagawa, to study music at the Senzoku Gakuen College of Music. She spent four years there, and when she graduated in 2007, she packed her bags and made her way to Trinidad to fulfil her dream of playing on steelpan’s biggest stage, Panorama, at the Queen’s Park Savannah.
Over her many visits, Nagakiya played with several bands including Pandemonium at its Norfolk Street base in Belmont, but a couple years later she found a home in the Newtown-based Silver Stars.
Nagakiya quickly became popular with both members and non-members of the band, as she was frequently seen hugging and starting conversations with persons in the panyard, despite the language barrier.
“She would just hug everybody and start a conversation,†Ash remembered, “Her English wasn’t as good then, but now it certainly has improved. She was the friendliest person in Silver Stars. We would always go and lime; I carried her, along with other foreign players, for bake and shark at Maracas beach — that soon became a tradition.
We also carried her on a boat ride called “Rep Yuh Band†which is promoted by Desperadoes. All the steel orchestras come together for a boat ride and represent their band and party. She met a lot of other players, and through all the interactions she grew in popularity among the community.†Nagakiya’s effervescent personality may have come from the teachings at her college, as Wakao Maeda, founder of Senzoku Gakuen College, built it in the spirit of “Keep your dreams lofty, but be humble in your actions.†Ash noted that over the years, Asami showed more passion for the national instrument than some Trinidadians. “She would come to Trinidad and play for free; if she gets paid she gets paid, if she doesn’t, she wouldn’t care,†Ash recounted.
“The second year she played with us, after Edmond Pouchet, the then arranger, got a heart attack, she didn’t charge the band a cent. She told us to take what she earned and donate it to Pouchet’s medical bills.
That is the kind of person she was.†“Her dream really was to cross the stage on a final night and play for Panorama.†Ash revealed. She played on that stage five times. This year, she was with the band again, supporting their rendition which would give them seventh place in the finals.
Nagakiya made it a habit of bringing souvenirs for her friends and fellow band members every time she came into the country.
One of these was the CD, which she gave to Ash with a note that read: “Dear Marcus, this is my CD.
Please let me know your impressions.
All composed by me.†Had Ash known that his time with her was limited, he would have torn open the CD and immersed himself in her songs, but instead he decided to wait until after the Carnival to properly listen to the CD.
Ash, along with several members of the band, last saw her alive at the panyard, on Carnival Tuesday evening.
She told band members that she was going to her apartment at Picton Court, to change.
Ash told Sunday Newsday that he tried calling her on Wednesday to join the band to lime “down the islands.†He did not get a response from her, and did not find out her fate until the group returned from the islands.
Nagakiya was found dead at about 9.30 on Ash Wednesday morning, under a tree on the western side of the Queen’s Park Savannah, near Queen’s Royal College.
An autopsy confirmed she was manually strangled.
