タグ 林明日香

シニッカ・ランゲラン — 森の精霊を呼び覚ます：金沢・もっきりや、2024年4月21日

この日は、私が金沢を訪れることができる唯一の夜でした。そして運命的なことに、ノルウェーから来日中のシニッカが、1971年創業の歴史あるジャズカフェ兼ライブハウス「もっきりや」で公演を行っていました。西日本で彼女に出会えたことは、ありそうにないほど幸運なことでした。シニッカは、テーブルの上に水平に置いて弾くハープの一種である39弦のカンテレを使い、森のフィンランド人の伝統音楽にインスパイアされたジャズ風の楽曲を演奏します。それは心に残り、忘れられないものです。

シニッカの歌声は鈴の音のように澄んでいます。しかし、その声の純粋さと決然としたイントネーションは、楽器の甘美な音色と相まって、慈しみ、神秘、そして古の知恵を伝える深遠な何かを表現しています。彼女の音楽は、原始の源から湧き出る清らかで癒やしに満ちた泉の水のように、不純物がなく驚きに満ちて、私たちの周りを穏やかに流れます。私は、シニッカの音楽をこれほどまでに地に足がついた、浄化されるような、そして空霊的なものにしているのは何なのか、そして彼女が日本で何をしていたのかを知りたいと思いました。

Sinikka Langeland at Mokkiriya, Kanzawa 4/21/24Photo © by Christopher Pelham

Sinikka Langeland — Channeling the Spirits of the Forest at Mokkiriya, Kanazawa, 4/21/24

This was the only night I could conceivably visit Kanazawa, and fatefully, Sinikka was performing at the historic Mokkiriya jazz cafe and live house, founded in 1971, on this night, on tour from Norway. Meeting her in western Japan was as fortuitous as it is unlikely. Sinikka performs jazz-inflected songs inspired by the traditional music of the Forest Finns on a 39-string kantele (a kind of harp that sits horizontally on a table) that are haunting and unforgettable.

Sinikka’s singing is as clear as a bell. Yet, the purity of her voice and her decisive intonation, coupled with the dulcet sounds of her instrument, also express something profound, conveying compassion, mystery, and an ancient knowing. Gently, her music flows all around us, free of impurity and full of wonder, like a spring whose pristine and paliative waters well up from some primordial source. I wanted to know what makes Sinikka’s music so grounding, purifying, and ethereal — and what she was doing in Japan!

Shin'ichi Isohata 磯端伸 (guitar) & sara (piano, perc.) performing at the closing reception for Chie Matsui's exhibition 置き去られた鏡 The Forsaken Mirror at Gallery Nomart, Osaka, 4/20/24Photo © by Christopher Pelham

置き去られた鏡 The Forsaken Mirror by Chie Matsui 松井智惠 at Gallery Nomart, Osaka 4/20/24

On my last night in Osaka, I attended the closing night reception for the solo exhibition 置き去られた鏡 The Forsaken Mirror by celebrated artist Chie Matsui 松井智惠. The performance consisted of music by avant-garde musicians sara (piano, perc.) & Shin’ichi Isohata 磯端伸 (guitar) and a poem read in Japanese, Korean, and English by Chie, Yangjah, and Miho, respectively. At first, I didn’t know what to make of the performance or the abstract, brightly colored prints surrounding a centrally hung mirror. Eventually, in the space created by the disorientation and abstraction, I reflected on who these people were, who I was, and the various identities we experience throughout life, which proved enlivening.

WOMB photographers Masami Ueda, Rino Kawasaki, Sana Kohmoto, and Kalina Leonard in front of the exhibit of WOMB magazines and photo books at their 10th anniversary exhibition at the Kyoto Museum of Photography

KYOTOGRAPHIE KG+ Photographer Group “WOMB” (Masami Ueda, Rino Kawasaki, Kalina Leonard, Sana Kohmoto) 10th Anniversary Exhibition (April 26, 2024)

I had circled the KYOTOGRAPHIE KG+ Photographer Group WOMB’s 10th Anniversary exhibition as one not to miss. I was attracted to WOMB’s mission, which seemed to offer a feminine gaze yet take a metaphorical and expansive rather than body-centered view of a womb’s function. A small collective of Japanese female photographers who have been publishing WOMB photography magazine since September 2013, WOMB says they named their group and magazine to evoke “things that no one knows yet, a place where things are born (and grow).” Fortunately, I was able to meet two of the photographers, and among my many experiences at KYOTOGRAPHIE, this exhibition proved to be a highlight. Honestly, it was inspiring and rewarding beyond all expectations.

Asuca Hayashi at MIFA Football Cafe, May 5, 2024Photo © by Christopher Pelham

Asuca Hayashi 林明日香 — Song of the Earth, Tokyo (May 5, 2024)

On a sunny 5th of May — Children’s Day in Japan — I made my way to what seemed like an unlikely venue, Mifa Football Cafe, for a matinee child/family-friendly concert and luncheon called “Song of the Earth,” organized by the J-Pop singer Asuca Hayashi 林明日香. Mifa is located in Toyosu, one of a series of artificial islands in Tokyo Bay just southeast of the former Tsukuji Fish Market in Tokyo, a strange but fitting location. Both Asuca and the people of Tokyo were charting a new course in pursuit of more healthy, sustainable lives.