On the 10th of November, 2018, a group of talented and practised singers took a ferry to Nozaki Island to perform their renditions of famous and eerily beautiful Japanese classical songs. This concert, helmed by celebrated conductor Oguchi 先生, was held inside Nokubi church on Nozaki Island to celebrate the recent UNESCO World Heritage Site title of the island. Nokubi church was built in 1908 after a group of 18 families decided to bring their dream of a brick church into fruition.
Miraculously enough, this church was designed by Yosuke Tetsukawa and brought to life during a period of poverty and famine in Nozaki due to poor agricultural conditions, when the locals united in fasting while building it. It's quite incredible to think about, as anyone who openly practiced Christianity used to be persecuted in Japan, so it was quite a brave statement to build a church, let alone while suffering from extreme hunger.
Although the church was later abandoned when the island became uninhabited, it was adopted by Ojika and renovated. Now, it remains as a beautiful relic from a complicated part of Japanese history. It was a stunning experience to come to this church and listen to the local Ojika people sing inside, as it reminded me of what it would've been like for the families that lived here who took this place as a refuge to openly make what was most important to them the center of their lives.
The choir included members as young as six or seven, up to to the senior citizens of the Ojika community. The mixture of young and old, as well as male and female singers, created a gorgeously balanced sound that was wonderful to enjoy. Egawa Sensei is a local Ojika resident who adopted island life after coming to the island and marrying a local resident here. Then, the performance began. A young girl gave the first introduction before the conductor, Oguchi Sensei, took his place in front of the choir. Oguchi Sensei is a celebrated conductor who calls Tokyo home and has had an illustrious career. Even with all his experience, he shared with Shimayado Goen Inn's owner Taiyo, that this performance inside Nokubi Church was one of the best he has ever experienced, due to the fantastic ambiance.
During the show, near the final song, we got to join in with the choir. Oguchi Sensei taught us how to project our voices up towards the ceiling so the sound expanded upwards and echoed in a gorgeous humming and expansive tone. We were provided with lyrics to join in and all of a sudden, it felt like the music was all around me. It was an absolutely wonderful moment.
The afternoon concert ended with all of us joining in to a group photo, the audience sitting in front of the sea of choir members all in blue. Taking part in the singing, and the ending photo, created such a warm community feeling and made the show feel like less of a performance and more of a gathering of celebration.
No comments:
Post a Comment