Please note: I'm Japanese and still learning English, so I use AI for translations. Doing my best! Feel free to correct me if I make a mistake! 🙏
This is the inaugural issue of MusicStory.
While we usually present contemporary music and art in pairs,
for this very first piece, please allow me to share my own story.
The Day I Took a Detour
In the autumn of 2017. On my way home from school, I took a detour with friends to the National Museum of Art, Osaka, in Nakanoshima.
Although detours were forbidden back then, I eagerly followed when invited to go.
We entered the museum still in our school uniforms.
There, I encountered Bruegel's 'The Tower of Babel'.
A colossal spiral tower seemed to pierce through the clouds.
Countless people clung to its walls, each engaged in their own tasks.
Everyone was desperately building something, even though they didn't know if it would ever be completed.
I wondered why I was so drawn to it.
Unable to articulate my feelings, I simply gazed at it.
That was the first day I ever visited an art museum.
When Music Was No Longer Joyful
Several years later, I found myself alone in Weimar, Germany.
It was after failing my university entrance exams. Unsure whether to try again or pursue a different path, I applied for a masterclass and boarded a plane.
At that time, I had lost my joy in music.
Competitions, exams, evaluations, rankings…
Before I knew it, music had become a constant 'battleground'.
Every time I played, I compared myself to others, and every time, I was confronted with my own shortcomings.
I constantly wondered, 'Was music always this painful?'
During a class concert.
A girl from Denmark began to play Mozart's 'Violin Concerto No. 5'.
With the very first note, something shifted.
She was simply enjoying the music.
On stage, she played with true freedom and joy.
'Music can be this free,' I realized.
The tension in my shoulders suddenly eased, and the world seemed a little brighter.
The Impulse to Create
That's when I remembered 'The Tower of Babel'.
Perhaps the people in that painting weren't building the tower to defeat anyone.
Perhaps they simply wanted to create something, even knowing it might be unattainable.
I believe humans have always been like that.
Whether through music, painting, or words, we strive to create something, even if it's not recognized by others or preserved in records.
Isn't that impulse the very core of what it means to be human?
Precisely because we live in an era where AI can do anything, I want to focus on what humans create.
Things created by human hands and hearts embody the creator's time and emotions.
That alone cannot be replaced.
I hope you, too, will try to create something.
Whether it's music, poetry, a letter, or a painting.
'Leaving something behind in this world'
Because I believe that is what we can do now.
Art as a Dialogue with Oneself
When I look at a painting, I feel like I'm looking at my present self. It's the same with music.
Precisely because there are no right answers in art, there is a unique story born from a dialogue with oneself.
The painting I saw long ago looks different to me now.
Having gained experience and encountered various things, I feel that something new will emerge.
And I want to see that painting again.
Until the day I can see 'The Tower of Babel' again, I will continue to dedicate myself to my craft every day.
I Want to Weave Stories With You
There are no right answers in art.
Just as the landscape I saw at 17 is different from what I see now, your encounter with art surely holds a story unique to you.
This space is a treasure chest filled with things I deeply love.
Please, feel free to record your thoughts and feelings in a notebook.
There's no need to search for the 'right' answer.
In your own words, your own story.
Like the inhabitants of the Tower of Babel, let's build something new together.
