A popular Japanese performing arts group is blending Buddhist chants with cyber aesthetics and electronic music.
“Cyber NamuNamu exists somewhere between the realms of religious ritual and the club,” The Japan Times wrote. A typical performance features two Buddhist priestesses chanting, or playing the saxophone, in front of a video-display backdrop of golden Buddhas floating above a neon, virtual Tokyo.
Cyber NamuNamu’s founder — who believes Buddhist doctrines can aid with disorientation stemming from rapid tech advances — said he “cannot say for certain” why their particular combination of ritual and rhythm helped to relieve heavy negative emotions that he had carried for years, inspiring him to share the act with others. “What I do know is that I clearly felt better.”