I was about seven years old, when I read the picture book, “Hiroshima no Pika,” by Maruki Toshi. The word pika is a Japanese onomatopoeia for flashing light. It came to refer to how the Hibakushas experienced the atomic bombs. The book follows 7-year-old Mii, and her parents. The watercolor illustrations of the family experiences in the aftermath of Pika shook my world. The book concluded with Mii’s mother’s words, and the authors’ message to the children worldwide. Now a single parent, picking out pieces of glass still embedded in her daughter’s scalp years later, she says “ピカは、ひとがおとさにゃ、おちてこん。Pikas only fall when men drop them.”
“みず、みず…Water, water…“
In every depiction of the aftermaths of the atomic bombs, the dying people are begging for water. Water is symbolic. It is healing, life itself. It’s what divides us, but also what connects us. This summer, as we commemorate the 80th anniversaries of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, I want to offer two pieces about water as a part of my prayer for world peace.
The first piece is “Troubled Water,” a symphonically conceived piano piece by Margaret Bonds (1913-1972). It is based on an African-American spiritual “Wade in the Water,” believed to be one of the Songs of the Underground Railroad that conveyed coded information to help the escaping enslaved people. The reasons why Bonds titled the piece “Troubled Water” at the height of the civil rights movement, in 1967, reminds us how the road to social justice is never linear, or over. Peace, like justice, is not to be taken for granted, but always to insist on, and work towards.
The second piece is “On a Drop of Water,” (1943) a prelude by Federico Mompou (1893-1987). A singular musical gesture, like a teardrop, creates expanding ripples of harmony in a beautiful canon. I want this piece to show how every tear we shed will move things and people around us, and eventually the society. Let us believe in the power of the butterfly effect of our interconnected world.
For the 80th anniversary of Hiroshima, I will join the community of San Diego WISH (Worldwide Initiative to Safeguard Humanity) on August 5th, 4:15pm PST, to offer the videos of my performance and message as a part of their ceremony. For the Nagasaki anniversary on August 9th, I will give a lecture-presentation at Museum Haus Kasuya in Yokosuka, Japan.
I will continue to seek ways to maximize my impact, promoting the power of music for healing and unity.