hirokoa

[hirokoa]

I am currently participating in this musicians' exhibit with colored pencil drawings.🌈 I feel really honored that having this precious opportunity with the brilliantly shining senior Okinawan musicians. . Each artists' works are different completely, so if you watch it, I think you'll feel like you're unleashed that all human beings are truly unique 🕊 . I am deeply grateful and respectful to Alberto Shiroma, Also big thank you to Yuko Nakasone, staff, and PLAZA HOUSE. ・ ・ ・ "MELODiARTE 2" November 27th (Sat) -December 19th (Sun) Plaza House Shopping Center 3F Rycom Anthropologie 3-1-12 Kubota, Okinawa City (Inquiries) TEL 098-933-1142 11:00 to 19:00 (closed at 16:00 on the last day) free entrance Participating artists Alberto Shiroma (DIAMANTES) Takashi Gima (THE BARCOX) Cocco Hideyuki Shinzato (HY) Masaru Shimabukuro (BEGIN) Isamu Shimoji Silvio Moreno Satoshi Takazato (MONGOL800) Hiroko Arakaki Shingo Maekawa (Kariyushi 58) LEON #art #melodiarte # melodiarte2 #okinawa #exhibition #musician #okinawaartist #okinawamusician #music (Rycom Anthropology) https://www.instagram.com/p/CXXNv5WvzbS/?utm_medium=tumblr

[hirokoa]

今夏のことをnoteに書きました。 . ピアノのオーバーホールってこんなふうにするんだ！と興味深かった体験をシェアしたいと思います🎹 . グランドピアノをオーバーホールするの巻｜Hiroko Arakaki @hiroko_ar #note https://note.com/hirokoarakaki/n/nc0b45898e0df . #ピアノ #楽器 #オーバーホール #ピアノオーバーホール https://www.instagram.com/p/CXNdMNgrwjl/?utm_medium=tumblr

[hirokoa]

《参加作品リリース情報》 ジャケのイラスト描き下ろし、そして2曲目「おんがくをとめないで」の作詞・歌を担当した… ドラマー中村皓くんの初のソロアルバム「Piece of Pop」が、7/1からリリースになっております。 . 中村くんからCD現物が到着しました。いえ〜い✨ 嬉しいね…！ 中村くんありがとう＆おめでとう！ . 中村くんとけんちゃん（憲生）のタッグも、東京時代のライブでしばしばお世話になってた編成なのだけど、 今回けんちゃんが「おんがくをとめないで」のベースを弾いてくれてて久しぶりの共演です。 . 音源購入はこちらです▶︎ https://kohnakamura.thebase.in . (音源試聴はインスタの私のアカウントの一個前のポストで、もしくは中村皓 @naka_koh くんのアカウントから…) ぜひ聴いてみてください🎧 . #kohnakamura #hirokoarakaki #music #リリース #jpop #新譜 #音楽 https://www.instagram.com/p/CRI6HUHjf3i/?utm_medium=tumblr

[hirokoa]

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【参加作品リリース情報】 私の作品でドラムやディレクションなどでお世話になってきた中村皓くんの初のミニアルバム「Piece of Pop」が7/1にリリースします。 私は、2曲目「おんがくをとめないで」の作詞と歌を🎤、そしてジャケのイラストを手がけました🎨 作曲はすべて中村くん。 ぜひ聴いてくださいませ🎧✨ #Repost @naka_koh with @make_repost ・・・ ミニアルバムを作りました！ 何をやってもポップになってしまう自分の性（さが）を恥ずかしげもなく出した5曲... 素晴らしいゲストめっちゃ多数 全曲ボーカル、作詞、ミュージシャンを迎えました。 参加してくださったみなさんに感謝です！ 作り手の気持ちを知りたい と感じたところから始まった作品作り。 演奏にしろ編曲にしろたくさんの作品作りのお手伝いをさせてもらいましたが果たしてその重みを本当に理解できているのか？と自問自答... ならばやってみるかと重い腰を上げました。 数年前まで自分の作品作りなんて一切考えたこともありませんでしたがお仕事でたくさん曲を作るうちにだんだん作風というものが出来てきまして、このアルバムのために書いた曲もあれば、昔作ってずーーっと世に出ずにいた曲もあります。 大きな信頼を寄せる方々のご協力によって完成させることができました！ 作品作りの重みが少しだけわかった気がします。 誰のどんな作品も尊い。 Koh Nakamura 「Piece of Pop」 1. 「心はブルー、空は春色」 ft.たなかまゆ（Contrary Parade） 2. 「おんがくをとめないで」 ft.Hiroko Arakaki 3. 「聖X' -セイントエックス-」ft.NAGAMUU 4. 「逆さまの空」ft.古賀小由実 5. 「My Friend, Alright」ft.megg（Soupnote） 7/1（木）からCD（￥2,500Tax in）にて発売開始です！ ご予約、販売はこちらから↓（お知り合いの方はもちろんメッセージで連絡いただいても構いません） https://kohnakamura.thebase.in/ ※配信は8/8〜1曲ずつ各月ゾロ目日にリリースしていきます。 1曲1曲についてはそのときにまた書きます！ 【Member Credit】 1. 心はブルー、空は春色 たなかまゆ (Contrary Parade)  Vocal, Lyrics 堀内大輔 Guitar 梅沢茂樹 Bass 川嶋フトシ Piano, Organ 永田こーせー Tenor Saxophone, Flute 織田祐亮 Flugelhorn 中村皓 Drums 2. おんがくをとめないで Hiroko Arakaki Vocal, Lyrics 山本恭平 Guitar 憲生 Bass ハナブサユウキ Piano, Organ 中村皓 Drums, Synthesizer 3. 聖X' -セイントエックス- NAGAMUU Vocal, Lyrics, Music (co-write) 中村皓 All Instruments 4. 逆さまの空 古賀小由実 Vocal, Lyrics 清水康弘 Guitar 中村皓 All other Instruments 5. My Friend, Alright megg  (Soupnote)  Vocal 岩谷成晃 Lyrics 外園一馬 Guitars 中村皓 All other Instruments Hiroko Arakaki Illustration Izumita Works Design, Movie 中村フミト（Endhits Studio） Recording, Mixing, Mastering Engineer 神戸円（Endhits Studio） Assistand Engineer https://www.instagram.com/p/CQpM3yMjOrP/?utm_medium=tumblr

[hirokoa]

【📣リリースしてます✨】 自分の告知ができていなかった今日このごろ。 . 2020年8月のHMTP(Hiroko's Monthly Tune Project)#10 の曲「七色の愛だけがこの世界のすべて」 . ドン久保田さんにミックス・マスタリングしていただいたバージョンがnoteと各種サブスクリプションで入手可能になっています。 より素敵なサウンドにしていただきました✨ . ジャケットまたアラカキが描いております🎨 . ぜひお聴きください🎧 . ▼note https://note.com/hirokoarakaki/n/n2a384901866e . ▼iTunes, AppleMusic, Spotify etc. https://artist.landr.com/music/672985748682 . #HMTP #ニューリリース #アラカキヒロコ #HirokoArakaki #音楽 #music #singersongwriter #シンガーソングライター #楽曲配信 #LANDR #newrelease #ドン久保田 https://www.instagram.com/p/CMEqNdkDyCS/?igshid=10qe08w8fs06h

[hirokoa]

“七色の愛だけがこの世界のすべて (Nanairo No Ai dakega Kono Sekai No Subete)” - Hiroko Arakaki” [Hiroko’s Monthly Tune Project #10] (February 2021) February 3rd. 2021 released Go to Link

[hirokoa]

機内で聴けます✈️ 1月のJTA機内エンターテインメントのオーディオプログラムで、私の1stアルバム「彼女はきっとそう言うだろう」 https://amzn.to/2JLW0nP 収録の3曲、「ジョブチェンジ」「ヒースローから成田へ」「桜咲くころ」が聴けます。 . こんな時期ですが、ご搭乗の際はお楽しみ下さい🎧✨ . 飛行機が好きなので、自分の曲が上空1万メートルで流れているかと思うと嬉しいし感慨深いです。 お世話になったとっしーさんに感謝✨するとともに、 JTAをはじめ、苦しい時期を送っている航空業界のみなさんにエールを送りたい気持ちです。 . 沖縄はもう桜、咲いてます🌸 . #jta #okinawa #airplane #music #hirokoarakaki #cherryblossom #機内 #音楽 #アラカキヒロコ #桜 #沖縄 #寒緋桜 (at Naha, Okinawa) https://www.instagram.com/p/CJsExn7jjGY/?igshid=1kajl38hcyctr

[hirokoa]

我が家から発掘されしB円。 「軍事布告に基き發行す」の文字が。 現物、初めて見た。 . "B円（ビーえん）は、1945年から1958年9月まで、米軍占領下の沖縄県や鹿児島県奄美群島（トカラ列島含む）で、通貨として流通したアメリカ軍発行の軍票。1948年から1958年までは、唯一の法定通貨だった。日本国内で法定通貨とされた唯一の外国軍票であり、本土地域でも短期間少量流通している。正式名はB型軍票[1]。英語表記は、Type "B" Military Yenで、Yen B type、B-yenなどとも表記される。" ( Wikipedia先生より ) . #古銭 #沖縄 #米軍 #通貨 #B円 https://www.instagram.com/p/CEgC1hLjG8y/?igshid=145o5yuyccdn0

[hirokoa]

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本日リリースしました‼️📢✨ そしてKentaro Takizawaさん、Happy Birthday‼️🎉🎉🎉✨ コロナ第一波のstayhome期間に、DJ Kentaro Takizawaさんと初共作した『The Birth Song』。 今までの私の音楽を知る方はたぶん新鮮！Kentaさんの美しいトラックに英語とウチナーグチの歌を乗せました。 https://youtu.be/DxsjZ9FPGr4 明日、この曲のことnoteに詳しく書きますね。 . ちなみにウチナーグチの部分は琉球舞踊の曲「浜千鳥（ちじゅやー）」の引用です。 . 渡海やひじゃみてぃん　照る月は一つ あまん眺みゆら　今宵ぬ空や . 海を隔てていても照る月はひとつ、あなたも向こうで今日の月を眺めているでしょうかというような意味です。 音に込めた大切なひとたち、ことたち、未来への気持ちが��きますように。 . 🔵Beatport Exclusive → https://www.beatport.com/release/the-birth-song/3078746 🔵Bandcamp → https://hausitfeelingrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-birth-song . Title : The Birth Song Artist : Kentaro Takizawa & Hiroko Arakaki . Track List 01.The Birth Song (Original Mix) 02.The Birth Song (Inst Mix) Label : Haus It Feelin' Records Format : Digital Download Catalog Number : HIFR017 Release Date : 2020.09.26<2020.08.29 beatport,bandcamp,exclusive> . -この曲には、「2020年の世界は困難に見舞われ辛抱の時期が続いている。しかし、私たちはこの生活の中で、当たり前の日常を失ったからこそ<大切なもの>を見つけた。そして、私たちは見つけた<大切なもの>を手に新しい未来に向かい、皆と逢うために今を乗り越えよう。」というメッセージが込められています。この曲を聞いた皆の心が少しでも優しくなれるように。- . [Credit] Lyric by Hiroko Arakaki Written by Kentaro Takizawa & Hiroko Arakaki Production by Kentaro Takizawa Mixed & Masteringed by Kentaro Takizawa . #music #housemusic #singersongwriter #colab #kentarotakizawa #hirokoarakaki #okinawa #newrelease https://www.instagram.com/p/CEeWK91jw4K/?igshid=cj8nzaly03d1

[hirokoa]

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It will be released at Beatport Exclusive tomorrow📢✨ "The Birth Song" co-written with DJ Kentaro Takizawa during the stay home period of the first wave of corona. It may be fresh to anyone who knows my music so far (I feel also fresh). . I hope that my feelings for precious people, important things, and the future that are put in the sound will reach you. https://youtu.be/DxsjZ9FPGr4 . Title : The Birth Song Artist : Kentaro Takizawa & Hiroko Arakaki . Track List 01.The Birth Song (Original Mix) 02.The Birth Song (Inst Mix) . Label : Haus It Feelin' Records Format : Digital Download Catalog Number : HIFR017 Release Date : 2020.09.26<2020.08.29 beatport,bandcamp,exclusive> . Kentaro Takizawa's new song is a collaboration with Hiroko Arakaki, a singer-songwriter from the beautiful island of Okinawa, the pride of Japan. The song says: "The world of 2020 is in a period of hardship and perseverance, but we have lost the normalcy of our lives because we have lost the normalcy of this life. But we have found something important in this life because we have lost our ordinary life. And because we have lost our ordinary life, we have found something important, and we are moving forward to a new future, and we are getting over this period of time to meet everyone. This is the message of the song. I hope that everyone who listens to this song can become a little kinder in their hearts. . [Credit] Lyric by Hiroko Arakaki Written by Kentaro Takizawa & Hiroko Arakaki Production by Kentaro Takizawa Mixed & Masteringed by Kentaro Takizawa . #music #housemusic #singersongwriter #colab #kentarotakizawa #hirokoarakaki #okinawa #newrelease https://www.instagram.com/p/CEbxTm3BoC_/?igshid=l3x7mc535279

[hirokoa]

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🎧New Release 🎧Collab Tune The song of hope "The Birth Song", which I collaborated with Kentaro Takizawa in April, will be released on August 29! & pre-order on beatport now📢✨ https://www.beatport.com/release/the-birth-song/3078746 #beatport via @beatport I will write about this song in future. #hirokoarakaki #music #Repost @kentarotakizawa with @make_repost ・・・ とてもとても素敵な曲が出来ました😊今の日本というか、世界中のどこにも無い曲が出来た😊「オリエンタル」で「ハウス」であって「ハウス」でなくて、「沖縄」だし「東京」で、「日本」だけでもなく「欧米」でもあり、「優しく」て「キレイ」で心に訴えかける優しい曲😇この曲はコロナ禍のStayhomeでとにかく曲を作っている時に、ピアノを適当に弾いてたら出来たトラック。なので、「世界中を音で癒したい」て言う気持ちのノリが違います。そのデモに沖縄在住のシンガーソングライターのアラカキヒロコちゃんに声を入れてもらいました😊彼女とはたまたま沖縄行った際のラジオで知り合い、澄んだキレイな声、天才的な感性、優しい性格を兼ね備えて、この曲の世界観にピッタリで、本当お願いしてよかった😊過去に自分の感性とハマるボーカリストさんとは何人も出会いましたが、ヒロコちゃんはこれからの音楽生活の中では欠かせないボーカリストさんになりそうです👍そんなThe Birth Songはbeatportエクスクルーシブで8/29私の誕生日にリリースいたします🤗 ・ また、この曲をどなたかCMなどタイアップとかしたい、してくださる方がいたらDMなどにご連絡ください😊 とにかく素敵な曲が出来たのでより沢山の皆に届けて、この殺伐とした日本を癒したいのです。ちなみに、原盤も自分で持っているので使用の仕方は自由です🤗 ・ Title : The Birth Song Artist : Kentaro Takizawa & Hiroko Arakaki Track List 01.The Birth Song (Original Mix) 02.The Birth Song (Inst Mix) Label : Haus It Feelin' Records Format : Digital Download Catalog Number : HIFR017 Release Date : 2020.09.26<2020.08.29 beatport,bandcamp,exclusive> ・ <JP> Kentaro Takizawaの新作は日本が誇る美しい島々の沖縄出身のシンガーソングライターHiroko Arakakiとのコラボレーション曲。この曲には、「2020年の世界は困難に見舞われ辛抱の時期が続いている。しかし、私たちはこの生活の中で、当たり前の日常を失ったからこそ<大切なもの>を見つけた。そして、私たちは見つけた<大切なもの>を手に新しい未来に向かい、皆と逢うために今を乗り越えよう。」というメッセージが込められています。この曲を聞いた皆の心が少しでも優しくなれるように。 ・ #hausitfeelin #sleepingman #djlife #studiolife #japan #housemusic #deephouse #residentadvisor #indiedisco #tribalhouse #techhouse #summer #ibiza #kentarotakizawa #love #afrohouse #latinhouse #smile #swag #music #dj #organichouse https://www.instagram.com/p/CEHUX2ID92T/?igshid=2x408py6s7dt

[hirokoa]

I’m going to write about my song “Kurono” (Chronos). This tune is 2nd work for my ongoing “HMTP” (Hiroko’s Monthly Tune Project). This project is that I release (at least) a track a month, and this tune was for December 2019. I wrote this song in 2016, and I have often played it on live shows.

*Its lyrics are Japanese.

Chrono by Hiroko Arakaki

Download or streaming

https://artist.landr.com/music/628810966035

I have a dog now. She came to us in the fall of 2017 and it seemed that she was less than one year old at that time (Because she is a rescued dog, her exact age is unknown). I guess she is about 3 or 4 years old now.

Before, we had another dog. He came when I was 6, and lived for 17 years. My father took him for a walk early in the morning at a sunrise time to a park on a hill and greeted the rising sun. It was their daily routine (In fact I was to be in charge of the dog walk, but it was really hard for me to get up in the early morning at that time...). His lead was a chain, so it ringed every time he went out, or he came home. Sometimes I joined them, and this song "Kurono" (Chronos) is about the memories of those times.

Why do dogs' lives are fast-forwarding like this? Cats and other animals may be also like that. I feel they make us be conscious of “time”. Even though he was born after me, he kept growing up and become an adult, leaving me beside. My father, who used to take a walk every morning at that time, is too old to walk freely now. But I remember that those days really existed. "Chronos" is a word that means time or a deification of time, and the title of this song comes from there.

He was always looked happy when I and other family members came home. He welcomed us every time. As he became a grandpa, he stopped jumping like he used to, but his eyes were very beautiful all the time. In his later years, his eyes became like hermit's ones, I wonder if he could see through my heart. But he's gone in the summer vacation when I was a second-grade university student. When I arrived at my parents' home, he was no longer there, which made me very sad. I wonder what kind of family I was, for him. I may have been a so-so person who doesn't take very much care for him.

But when a few years after he died. When I was very tired and was sleeping in my room in Tokyo in the afternoon, suddenly I heard the sound from behind the door. It was definitely his lead's one. So I was really happy that I cried, "You came to me again." I woke up from my dream and opened the door, and nobody was there, but I'm still believing that he must have come to see me at that time.

[hirokoa]

太田信吾監督の、5年間の封印ののち昨年劇場公開された問題作、『解放区』。本日7月8日、DVDとBlu-rayが全国発売&レンタルスタートです。 ソフト版は一部再編集が入ってR指定も無いそうです。 - 私は、特典映像にある短編『Romantic City』の音楽を担当しています。 - 『解放区』は当時私もロケに同行し、その時のことは同映画のパンフレットに寄稿させていただいていますが、その数年前の2009年、最初に西成で撮影した、『解放区』の大元となった作品というのが『Romantic City』だそう。 - 今回再鑑賞したのですが、『解放区』も『Romantic City』も制作者に友人知人が複数出てくる、かつドキュメンタリーとフィクションの狭間にあるような作品であるせいか、画面やクレジットに登場する自分とも地続きの彼らの軌跡を自分が観ているというこの状況自体がドキュメンタリーみたいだな、と不思議気分になりました。 同時に、このときの作品にかけられた半端ないエネルギーを噛み締めました。観ながら自分の心の動きで個々人の好き嫌いやポリシーが炙り出される、そんな作品でもあると思います。 - 楽天→ https://a.r10.to/hz6BO5 Amazon→ https://amzn.to/3ez9aOD - #film #映画 #解放区 #西成 #大坂 #太田信吾 https://www.instagram.com/p/CCYp3QlD1IK/?igshid=9xag74zebyb0

[hirokoa]

It gets shorter and shorter. My hair is hard to handle, but the good hair stylist cut nicely. Thank you. ✂︎ どんどん短くなる。わたしの髪は扱いにくいのだけど、よきスタイリストさんが素敵にカットしてくれました。感謝✨ . #haircut #shorthair #thankyou https://www.instagram.com/p/CA_wMC7DKIY/?igshid=dqb0hpq76mj5

[hirokoa]

I’m going to write about my song “Torch”. This tune is 6th work for my ongoing “HMTP” (Hiroko’s Monthly Tune Project). This project is that I release (at least) a track a month, and this tune was for April 2020.

→ https://artist.landr.com/music/672985313477

I wrote this song before the farewell party of my close friend's mother in 2018 and premiered at that party. I used the jazz chords I've just learned at the time. But maybe it fits the atmosphere of the song nicely.

I was struggling with mixing the tracks well this time, and a bassist Don Kubota helped me and solved it easily. Thank you so much.

In my songs, there're "The Goddess of Truth Series", and "Torch" is one of those. There is also the song called "Veritas", though I've never played on shows.

I wrote these songs, inspired from the image like "when you are struggling in the dark or when you are at a loss, a goddess-like entity with a blue flame torch appears and reveals the truth."

This vision is probably important to me and has always been in my head for some reason, and maybe a lot of the women in my songs, not just The Goddess of Truth Series, have elements of this vision more or less.

Through "Torch", maybe I wanted to sing the process of regaining strength, realized one's value from the bottom.

"Torch" is like...

The Goddess of Truth comes to my lonely darkness, illuminating the flames of mercy, saying, "Did you forget your tremendous power and potential?" So I recall my power and brightness inside me, at the same time I recall that all happiness and any despair were all "grace."

However, it may be myself who was the one who sent me the goddess of truth who illuminates the way.

I'm making all of HMTP works' artwork, and this time, I drew a piece called "Veritas with Blue Flame" as a material for the jacket.

→ https://www.instagram.com/p/CAZ-JPhDYG_/

I uploaded its production process to Instagram.

→ Drawing vol.1 / vol.2 / vol.3 / vol.4

The motif of the picture comes from the image of the goddess above, and the name "Veritas" comes from the goddess of truth in Roman mythology.

Veritas is said she holds a hand mirror, and when it comes to the goddess with a torch, she might be Nike or Hekate, but my Veritas needed a blue torch as well as a hand mirror by any means.

By the way, I recently noticed that the name "Torch" seems like the Olympic flame in view of the times, but honestly, I didn't consider the Olympic Games at all. However, personally, I always have respect for athletes who are always challenging and pushing up their limits.

[hirokoa]

I'm going to write about my song “光の庭 (Hikari no Niwa)”: “Garden of Lights - Japanese Version”, This tune was born as the 1st work for my ongoing “HMTP” (Hiroko’s Monthly Tune Project). This project is that I release (at least) a track a month, and this tune was for November 2019. “光の庭, Hikari-no-Niwa” (Garden of Lights - Japanese Version) - Hiroko Arakaki https://artist.landr.com/music/628810883868 This is a song about the butterfly. Butterflies are flying in my yard. Some fly slowly, some fly flutteringly. Each one has its sophisticated pattern, they are all beautiful and I can’t stop following with my eyes. I feel it graceful, but how about for themselves? If you look closely, you will find that some of them have torn wings, or lose scales and its colour fades, weaken. I focused on the life of a butterfly, and search it a bit, and felt "How tough!", from one human being. It depends on what you consider to be harsh, but if you look at a very simple survival rate, for example, the average value of the butterfly at from this link https://www.pteron-world.com/topics/life/lifecycle.html (*Japanese), 0.6 adults (butterflies) out of 95.3 eggs. Though it may be a narrow view of the world, from my standpoint as a human being, it is a world like where only one person can live and become adults out of 159 contemporaries. (I carelessly searched on the web the case killed by parasitic bees between eggs, larvae, and pupae on and it made me down for a while...) I imagine that the sense or the view of life and death for individuals are completely different, between a creature which has fewer and larger-sized eggs strategy like human and a creature with more smaller-sized eggs strategy like a butterfly. What kind of feelings do butterflies have? If I were a butterfly? I sometimes think that, though it's maybe beyond my sense. They fly from flower to flower without a break. Even if she/he passes through the narrow gate and becomes a butterfly, he/she may be quickly caught by wild birds and spiders. The ones which have few scales and colour-faded wings seem painful but may live out their lives completely. They can't choose only mild weather between their butterfly lives. When a typhoon comes then several friends gathered together and closed their wings tightly, clinging to the backside of a large leaf, sometimes one of them being blown away. I look at it and say "Oh!" It seems every butterfly is trying hard for their every moment (although I don't know if this phrase is right) It is touching. It seems they live out their given lives selflessly, completely. Even humans may be the same after all from the side, but when I look at the fast-forward butterfly lives compared to humans, I feel such a thing more prominently, and that thing Looks very, very beautiful. Dedicated to the butterflies in my yard.

[hirokoa]

*New Single Has Released*

#HMTP "Hiroko's Monthly Tune Project" #3 "Wind's Song" has released, and now available on Spotify, iTunes, AppleMusic, Deezer, Tidal.

Wind's Song - Hiroko Arakaki

https://artist.landr.com/music/672985024663

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When I was a college student, Waseda Shochiku screened a documentary film called “Screaming Masterpiece" which is about musical features in Iceland and various artists including björk, Sigur Rós, múm. Since I'm fond of their sounds, I went to watch it. Then, I was totally fascinated by the place "Iceland" itself.

The film contains the scenes of björk's live show. When I listened to the low notes in the intro of "All is Full of Love”, tears started to flow out like a waterfall and I felt somehow “I will go to Iceland someday”.

The first time I had been there was in 2009 (this trip was pretty dramatic, but I'll skip it because it's a long story). After returning to Japan, I was suffering from a kind of lovesickness which makes me want to go to Iceland intermittently, but I couldn't go there so often, so I've always been thinking, like, "I want to go there, again..." "That amazing, overwhelming nature...", "It was so beautiful...I miss there", and "The place I haven't visit last time would be like this when I actually walk there..." Too dreaming and finally wrote a song called "Kaze no Uta" ( means "Wind's Song").

When I visited there for the second time in the fall of 2013, there were exactly the sceneries I envisioned in this song. "Wow, really this!" I was so impressed that I felt like I was dreaming (this trip's story is also pretty dramatic and long).

In Iceland, wild winds often blow. Those are strong enough that push you back slowly even if you are standing firmly. When you're accustomed to daily life in Japan, it might make your blood freeze a bit if your car is blown by the winds when you're on paved roads( the specified speed is basically 90 km/h). Also, out of the high season, the road freezes easily, so 4WD is necessarily required.

Once, I have led our car to offroad with my too ignorant navigation, the car was stuck in the snow, on the vast tundra land where you could see just moss and snow and nobody there.

Or once at night, We had a flat tire due to running over some fallen rocks, on a dark coastal road with very little traffic. Every time I faced these moments, I felt deeply the meaning of the word, "Don't underestimate the power of nature."

Iceland is also a well-known volcanic country. The photo which I used as the jacket for this single had taken by Yuri, one of my close friend, in 2013. It's the place near the part of the broken bridge "Skeiðará Bridge Monument", which shows the dreadfulness of the floods that occurred when the Vatnajökull volcano erupted in 1996 and melted a part of the glacier.

The nature you see in Iceland is wild and powerful, just overwhelming. Then, somewhere in my mind, I realize that I have an incomparable sense of security, knowing the facts that nature exists as nature and that humans live in harmony with nature.

The Icelandic people I met helped us very kindly, and casually just same as breathing, seeing us in need. When we got stuck in because of a flat tire, the few cars that passed by stopped. A family came helped us changing the tire even though it's raining lightly and cold, and another woman gave me a paper with her phone number, saying "Please call me if the things go wrong. I will talk to your rental car company in Icelandic." It was just like a family.

Maybe it's because they know the power of the nature that swallows tiny lives left with careless in nature easily. But it's not that they are scared of nature, I imagined. For Icelandic people, it is "natural", and rather they are loving and respectful to it, I felt.

Nature is not a thing to overcome, but one that we accept its behaviour and live in harmony in it. Warm, cool, and calm. I want to be like them as a human being! For those who live in Japan where natural disasters often occur, their attitude may be a great hint, I guess.

For me, "Kaze no Uta" is such a precious song which is my love letter to Iceland and nature, holds my favourite scenery. It reminds me of the ideal feelings of "I want to live like this as a human being", and the appreciation that "Something makes me to alive and is supporting me to go forward" when I sing this song. "Kaze no Uta" originally a Japanese song, this time I translated it in English and rearranged into "Wind's Song", released as a work for my ongoing "HMTP" (Hiroko's Monthly Tune Project). This project is that I release a track a month, and this tune was for January 2020.

Another one of my close friends, Vicky checked the English lyrics. I'm honoured to introduce that she was also in charge of English subtitles of "Naraibusan (I Want to Learn)" which is available on its MV on YouTube ( https://youtu.be/6NAhAad-OKo ). Thank you always, Vicky.

I'm just singing my favourite things, but I hope you'll listen to. I dream it would be more fun if I could share such feelings, such as the joy of being held in majestic nature and being overwhelmed, with security, with someone anywhere in the world.