{"id":37440,"date":"2023-07-31T18:20:38","date_gmt":"2023-08-01T01:20:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/?p=37440"},"modified":"2024-08-03T21:42:34","modified_gmt":"2024-08-04T04:42:34","slug":"yvconcertblog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/yvconcertblog\/","title":{"rendered":"Space Battleship Yamato<\/em> Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Published at the (Continued) London Paris<\/em> blog on July 9. See the original post here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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July 6th, Suntory Hall, Tokyo<\/p>\n

I went to the Space Battleship Yamato<\/em> Festival with my second daughter. I was late in purchasing tickets and got a seat on the second floor. But it was good. The title was Yamato & Villains!<\/em> In Yamato<\/em>, even the villains have their own theme songs, including Dessler. The arrangement focuses on that.<\/p>\n

First off, there was White Comet<\/em>, a pipe organ solo. This may be the first time I’ve heard a pipe organ performance. I may have heard it at a Yamato<\/em> concert a long time ago, but the resonance of the sound is amazing. I don\u2019t have the vocabulary. I think it’s a great song. The melody line is clear and simple, and I hum it when I go to the theater. When it comes to “pipe organ songs”, this may be the most well-known song in Japan, easily surpassing Bach’s fugues.<\/p>\n

Then the Space Battleship Yamato<\/em> Suite. When the familiar theme song started, I cried. This year marks 50 years since Yamato<\/em> was first broadcast on TV. There will be various events to commemorate this. The band performing this time was the Siena Wind Orchestra. As the name suggests, it’s an orchestra made up of wind instruments, in other words, a brass band. This is also very good. The trumpet solo moved me to tears.<\/p>\n

The music of Space Battleship Yamato<\/em> can be described as miraculous. The songs are the work of a rare melody maker, composer Hiroshi Miyagawa, who poured his heart and soul into creating them. They are a collection of masterpieces that far exceed the scale of anime. Fortunately or unfortunately, they were made for a very demanding producer, and each time music was made to satisfy him. It must have been a positive thing for the producer, who was very fussy about the music.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

It was decided that the songs would be remade, and Hiroshi Miyagawa’s son Akira took on the task of composing and arranging them. Akira said that as a child, he would listen to Yamato<\/em>‘s music and feel proud of his father’s work. Now, the son takes up the same job as his father.<\/p>\n

The songs would have to be re-recorded for the remake, but there were no scores. So he had to recreate the scores by ear, rearrange them anew, and write new songs. I imagine the task of creating the scores must have been enjoyable. He could clearly see how his father had thought about music, and it must have been like a father teaching his son through his compositions.<\/p>\n

Now, with the remake Yamato<\/em> series, Akira may be experiencing the same “pains of childbirth” as his father. This is ironic. Come to think of it, Akira Miyagawa actually performed the opening song, White Comet.<\/em><\/p>\n

Yamato<\/em>‘s music today was made possible by the talents of Hiroshi Miyagawa and Akira Miyagawa. It’s truly miraculous that this happened.<\/p>\n

But even so…it’s been 50 years!! I think I was in my third year of junior high school then. I remember not seeing it on TV because I was preparing for entrance exams. It was released in theaters in the summer of my first year of college, and the so-called “anime boom” started, which has continued to this day. Without this, it’s safe to say that anime wouldn’t be what it is today. <\/p>\n

In the short space of time that the Yamato<\/em> theme song plays, fifty years of my life run through my mind. When I was a lousy student. When I was a useless company employee. Marriage, raising children…and now the coincidence of a shared hobby with my second daughter. 50 years have passed, and like the other “former otaku” probably sitting here in the audience, I’ve become a decent adult. I never thought I’d have any luck with women, but I found a good partner and was blessed with a child. And I can watch, listen to, and talk about the same things as my daughter. <\/p>\n

Is there such happiness?
\nNo, there can’t be…
\nNo, it’s right here!!
\nWhen I thought that, the tears wouldn’t stop.<\/p>\n

<\/br><\/p>\n

Return to previous article<\/a> <\/p>\n

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