Main Activities

Mar 18, at Hakuju Hall (Shibuya, Tokyo)  “A charity concert “Prayer” with TSUNAMI Violins, Viola and Cello” was held. 

It was an amazing moment that we could remember the disaster with 280 visitors there, 
surrounded with sounds of the instruments made of driftwood. 
It also gave us an opportunity to reconsider how important these activities are and what we should do from now. 

Performers

Emiri Miyamoto (violin), Toshiki Usui (piano), Kenji Nakagi (cello), Nobuhiro Suyama (cello), 
Yuriko Kuronuma (violin), Kazuki Sawa (viola), Sei Hatano (violin), Kimiko Nakazawa (violin) 

We thank all of the volunteer performers, whose hearts about the disaster on the wings of music deeply touched the audience. 
TSUNAMI Violas and TSUNAMI Cellos have ordinarily less chances to be listened to, so they sounded particularly fresh in the concert. Their deep sounds also felt good body in the form of a quartet. We would like to set up such an opportunity like this on more occasions.  
We are deeply grateful to all of the audience and those who gave us a hand of support in their communities. 
Please stand by us for long-lasting goodwill and support.  

We donated the entire amount of the “Prayer” concert ticket sales revenue of 840,000 yen (for 280 seats) to Hanamaki Kinsei Junior Orchestra. 

In the concert of Kinsei Junior Orchestra, after Ms. Yui Yuhara, a violinist, played a TSUNAMI Violin, the certificate of our donation was handed from Mr. Kazutaka Hinata, Vice Chairman of “Kodama no Kai”, the cosponsor of the charity concert, to Mr. Mitsugu Tada, the representative of the orchestra (Mar 27th).  

Mar 18, Charity Concert “Pray” Program 
Comments by the performers* in the order they performed

Emiri Miyamoto (violin) 

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for coming today. The TSUNAMI Violin is filled with Mr. Muneyuki Nakazawa’s earnest heart, so that we should never forget the Great East Japan Earthquake. Every time I play it, I am surprised to find that its sound grows more and more brilliant. I can deeply realize the power of music and the awe-inspiring spirit of the violin. Let me sincerely say it is truly an honor of mine to have an opportunity to play here today. I will play wishing that people’s hearts will be woven with the sound of music and be communicated over and over in Japan and in the world.  

Toshiki Usui (piano) 

The disaster gave the world a chance to reconsider what the Japanese identity is. What the  Japanese culture and power are were almost forgotten in daily life of the Japanese, but  ironically this question was sent out to the world and widely spread, along with the phenomenon that we musicians cannot help being aware of our identity as Japanese. There are some common languages that can be widely understood in the world, but “music” is a common language that can be understood in any country. We think it is getting more and more important to make the Japanese identity more clearly recognized as well as revitalization of the disaster areas and letting the world know more about Japan, through the common language called “music.” 

Kenji Nakagi (cello) 

It is a great honor of mine to have an opportunity like this to play in the charity concert. In the summer of 2011, the year of the Great East Japan Earthquake, I was given an opportunity with support from many people to play at Rikuzentakata Dai-ichi Junior High School. The concert was held in the music room of the school, and the time and the space, shared with the students, were unforgettable for me. I wish today’s concert would be a heartwarming one and be momentum by which the instruments and the spirits having been handed over by many musicians so far would be handed over farther in the future. 

Nobuhiro Suyama (violin) 

It is a great honor of mine to be able to join fabulous musicians in the concert of the TSUNAMI Violin made by Mr. Muneyuki Nakazawa, whom I highly admire. I remember when I was first given an opportunity to play the violin, I was impressed with its special voice which is usually not expected from a newly made violin. Five years have passed since the disaster. I think the violin will make its voice resound with people’s hearts on its sound wings. I would like to play music having good communication with the violin’s voice from the bottom of my heart today. 

Yuriko Kuronuma (violin) 

“That is not a pile of debris, but a pile of memories,” said Mrs. Kimiko Nakazawa, watching a pile of wood drifting back from the sea on TV. What a sublime idea she had! Afterwards, “the wood plates stuffed with people’s memories” were reborn as violins, violas and cellos by Mr. Muneyuki Nakazawa’s elaboration, and are telling stories of that unprecedented cruelest tragedy by means of music with their tones full of “pains and encouragement.” Please remember that the TSUNAMI instruments have a “sound post” made of wood from the trunk of the “Kiseki no Ipponmatsu,” which jointly testifies to the truth of the stories. I am sure I am not the only one that cannot help feeling tense when touching and playing a TSUNAMI Violin.  

Kazuki Sawa (viola) 

I have been given several opportunities to play a TSUNAMI Violin and a TSUNAMI Viola made by Mr. Muneyuki Nakazawa. Usually a newly made instrument has a fresh and hard sound, but the TSUNAMI instruments are different. They have “heartwarming” feeling. It is said that human spirits reside in tress and stones. Driftwood caused by the tsunami just after the Great East Japan Earthquake and brought ashore afterwards might hold the regrets of the deceased and their surviving families. I realize that Mr. Nakazawa’s heart, who gave the driftwood a life again as instruments, and condolence and mourning by performers resound together. Five years have passed now since the tragedy of the disaster. Here again let me play for prayer with my heart purified. 

Sei Hatano (violin) 

I clearly remember what happened on March 11th five years ago, the day the Great East Japan Earthquake happened. In January, 2014, I was given an opportunity to play a TSUNAMI Violin with Ms. Yuriko Kuronuma in her concert at Kioi Hall. It was my first time to play the TSUNAMI Violin which was full of hearts for the disaster and the victims. Since then, I have been given several opportunities to play the violin with Ms. Kuronuma. Every time I play it, I realize that the existence and the sound of the TSUNAMI Violin can encourage and back up people’s hearts including mine. I think TSUNAMI Violins will continue to send out important messages to people’s hearts forever, however much time may go by. 

Kimiko Nakazawa (violin) 

The first TSUNAMI Violin was completed one year after the disaster. Since I first touched it, four years have passed. For these years, the TSUNAMI Violin has always been making a step with me. I played it for prayer at Horyuji Temple, Ise Shrine, Meiji Shrine and many other places in Japan, at every place of them many people listened to the violin sound, looked back in their memories and prayed. That really impressed me and I will never forget it. Hanamaki (the name of a city) gave me a special memory where junior high school students who were victims of the disaster listened to my music and I felt the sorrow their hearts had experienced. My heart deeply hurt! I will never forget the feeling. Five years have passed now. I have found nothing has changed in my mind. I would like to make every step with this violin in the future as I have done so far.