This is an English translation of an article to appear in Nikkan San on May 2, 2021. It is a part of bi-weekly my column, âThe Way of the Pianist.â
For over a century, Armenians have observed April 24th as the Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day. On the day this year, the Biden administration formerly acknowledged 1.5 million Armenians as victims of genocide by the Ottoman Empire. It follows the U.S. government of accusation of China for genocide against the Uyghurs in January.
When examining human nature through the lens of the benefit of music and neuroscience, you find humanity as we idealize it. We are social, empathetic, and cooperative, designed to cohabitate and depend on each other. As a part of our nature as social animals, we identify ourselves with each other. I feel your pain as mine, for example. Ideally, feeling your pain as mine would move me to help you. However, because feeling your pain as mine is…painful, I also have the option to pretend not to have seen your pain, or to detach myself from you as foreign to me, separate, and an “other.” Furthermore, choosing to hurt you, rather than to find you by chance in pain, would give me a sense of control over our intertwined destiny. Our cruelty against each other are overwhelming, throughout history, and in our daily lives, as we all are too aware.
A masterful depiction of this contradiction in our human society is what led to a record breaking box office success of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie: Mugen Train after its US release on Friday, despite the pandemic and its restrictions. The animated dark fantasy film is based on a graphic novel series.
The protagonist has lost his family to men-eating demon, and the sole surviving sister has been turned into a demon herself. He trains to become a demon slayer in order to stop the demons from victimizing more people, and to find a way to turn his sister back to human being. He insist on his love for his sister despite her ability to overpower and eat even him. And his sister also retains human conscience, refusing to eat human flesh, aiding her brother in his quest. Together, they face solutions to their own, and our common, inner demons, presenting a symbolic model for how we ought to be.
All demons were humans once. And we are all prospective demons ourselves. We are at the mercy of many surrounding factors as potential demons and/or victims. While negotiating this reality, how do we nurture the more humane aspects of ourselves and how do we learn to build a more cooperative society that embraces our humanity in our diversity? I think this is where music can help, along with other communal activities like festivals, and rituals, and having common goals. What we share is greater than our differences, and this includes our destiny as a species.
Fascinating post, Makiko. When you say music is an expression of the more humane aspects of our lives, I think of the Jewish musicians in the concentration camps of Nazi Germany that provided some humanity amidst the daily horror of those camps.
I long for the day we can enjoy your music in person again. It looks like we may have that opportunity this summer.
Thank you very much for your commentďź
Yes, I think of those musicians who kept on providing music in the face of immense challenges, too.
These heroes from the past – however anonymous – and hopes for a better future, are two inspiration that keep motivating my daily practice.