Song of the Birds

I have decided to dance Song of the Birds in my demonstration and lecture in the US in October.
Below, I’m going to write about my memories of the creation process of the piece.

Encounter with Song of the Birds

One day in 2002 (I can’t recall the exact date), I was asked to perform for a project of the United Nations. I wanted to use a song by the American singer Susan Osborn, and the first song that I listened to in the selection process was Song of the Birds.

She was inspired by Little Tern, written by an American writer Brooke Newman.

In the story, a little tern has become unable to fly all of a sudden. He experiences sadness, but through encounters with new things, he eventually flies away to the great blue sky. It is a wonderful picture book about the journey of the mind, and tsuki Hiroyuki translated it into Japanese.

July 26, 2002 Tenkawa Shrine, Nara, Noh stage.
It was my first time to meet Susan who was visiting from the US. They recorded my performance after a rehearsal in the previous day. Susan sang freely to her small accordion, and I danced with mountains behind me, feeling protected by the shrine.

In the shrine, they also recorded the chanting of Hannya Shingyo (Heart Sutra) by about 10 Tibetan monks sent by the Dalai Lama. I was accustomed to Hannya Shingyo since my childhood even though I wasn't sure about the meaning back then. The language of these monks' Hannya Shingyo was not understandable to me, but my body received the same message, and I felt the universal existence beyond languages. It was indeed such a valuable experience.

It was when I was thinking about a program of my performance at C.G. Jung Institute that I
encountered Song of the Birds. To perform there was my dearest wish. Three months later, I performed Song of the Birds at the institute (Zurich, Switzerland) and in Germany. Moreover, It was indeed just one word that Susan told me at the dinner at Tenkawa which would lead to my performance at the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi in 2003.

After the performance on the Noh stage at Tenkawa, I decided to dance Song of the Birds at C.G Jung Institute and in Germany. I composed the program starting with cello performance of Pablo Casals who introduced this song to the world and used a narration in German before Susan’s song.

He said before playing this song: "I'm going to play Song of the Birds, a folk song of my hometown. When they fly to the blue sky, birds in Catalonia cries,'Peace. Peace.'"

This was at his live performance at the White House on November 13, 1961. When Casals was eighty-five, he was invited by President Kennedy to the White House. There is some noise in the recording, but you can strongly feel Casals's love to his home from this message. He was against the dictatorship of Franco and never returned home throughout his life.

The narration consisted of this message of Casals, the story of my encounter with Song of the Birds, and a little bit of Little Tern. Then, I danced to Susan's song.

This piece is a small one, but probably because I created it with so much energy even without any pause, it has its own perfection. I performed it several times after that without any modification.

October 21, 2002. Joju-in. Kiyomizu-dera, Kyoto.

I was asked to dance in a Japanese-style room with a folding screen at a moon-watching party. But I changed the room into audience seats and performed Song of the Birds in the hallway facing the garden of Joju-in.
Behind me was the excellent garden lit by the beautiful moon…

Western musical instruments and an English song matched the complete beauty of Japan, and I felt relieved. It was a week before I left for Switzerland and Germany.

October 30, 2002. C.G. Jung Institute (Zurich, Switzerland)
It is a place that researchers from all over the world get together and study the working of the human mind. I wonder what they will feel and say about my performance…

Jung

Even now, when I close my eyes, I see the images of my performance. In the space in a Western building (of course without a stage and lighting), I danced Song of the Birds lit by only four candles.

In the last moment, when I went into the next room by moving my kimono sleeves like wings, I felt a highly-charged atmosphere. Later, I found that fire spread from the candles to a black rug. A woman in the first row beat out the flames with cloth. Thanks to her help, I could continue on to my lecture.

When I lose confidence in my work, I always read messages from the audiences of this performance.
One of the audience members interpreted this fire as Jung’s concept of synchronicity. I wonder what the truth was…

People who were studying at the institute helped make my dream come true. They were Mika Irino,
Takuji Natori, Eriko Matsumoto, Hiromi Sato, Yuriko Sato, Tadashi Maeda, and Woo Jong-Tee. I wonder how they are doing now. I appreciate their help, and I believe that it was this encounter thatopened a new world for me.

November 1, Museum East Asian Art in Berlin(Germany)
November 2, Ludwig-Leichhardt-Gymnasium (Cottbus, Germany)

I did the same lecture/demonstration and then came back to Japan.
In Japan, I performed in places such as International Research Center for Japanese Studies and Hello Hall of Tanabe Campus of Doshisha University. Different locations always bring new energy to Song of the Birds.

I wonder what it will be like this coming fall in the US.

Museum of East Asian Art in Berlin Germany
rehearsal. 1st Nov.2002

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