一月も終わる今となってはいささか旧聞に属するが、毎年年末になると「クリスマスの約束」という小田和正のコンサート番組がある。これが始まってもう10年くらいになるだろう。見逃せないと思いつつ見逃した年も何度かあるけど、小田とゲストのコラボがいつも新鮮で楽しい。大型化しつつも観客との距離感がうまく機能する会場作りも好感度を醸す要因のひとつだと思う。
とりわけ去年の「約束2009」は、のっけから「聖しこの夜」のハーモニーに心を奪われたが、その後の本題というのが若手中心にいろんなミュージシャンに集まってもらい、彼らの持ち歌をメドレーに組み立て、それを全員でコーラスするという、何だかとてもハードルの高い企画だったのだが、これが手放しで素晴らしかった。
みんな本番に強いプロたちだから、練習以上のものを出せたのだろう、ステージは不思議な空気で包まれているように見えた。歌われるフレーズの思いがけない始まりはドラマチックで、一人一人の歌い手としての個性的な力量とそれらを編み込んだハーモニーが作る合唱の力は想像以上に強くて、感動的でさえあった。この意味は大きいと僕が感じたのは、つまりこういうことだ。
普段は親しいわけでもなく、バラバラに生活している個人が、手を携えてひとつのことを目指してみる。困難も多いが、そこには思ってもみなかった達成感が待っている。選ばれた歌は愛と絆をテーマにしたものが中心というのも示唆的で、これは小田和正流ということもあるだろうが、動物でもあり人間でもあるヒトの生き甲斐と希望を作り出すことは一人ではできないと悟るところから始めるのが大切ということだ。
日本が今置かれている閉塞状況の問題の本質は、一人一人が分断され、孤立し、それを受け止める社会的機能が消滅していることにある。これを軌道修正するには、人口構成も、産業構造も、教育も、社会参画も、あれもこれも舵の切り直しをしなくちゃいけない。このことは別の機会にもっと論じてみたいが、「約束」のコーラスは何が大切なのかを示唆する光明のように思えた。
Now that January is about to end, this may sound like an old topic, but toward the end of every year there is a concert program of Kazumasa Oda on TV titled “A Promise for Christmas”. This started about 10 years ago, and I always think I must watch it (but have missed a few of them) because the collaboration with the guest musicians is always refreshing and enjoyable. The concert premiss keeps getting larger, but still helps the intimacy between the audience and the artists with its arrangement.
Last year’s “Promise 2009” was exceptional not only in that the harmony of opening Silent Night was just outstanding but the following main feature was a project with seriously high hurdle: He invited numbers of musicians, mostly from younger generation, arranging their hit song passages into a medley, and everybody sings in chorus.
The stage was far more than what they had performed in the preparation sessions probably because they were the true stars that shine in live, and the air that enveloped the stage seemed something unusual and miraculous. The way introducing familiar phrases of lyrics were abruptly dramatic and touching. There was the individual power of singers with unique appeals but weaving them into a harmony sung in chorus was even more powerful beyond expectation. The meaning of this whole thing was this, I thought:
Each person lives his or her days individually, not really connected nor known each other closely. And one day they reach their hands with others to challenge a common goal. Many hard difficulties in front, but an indescribable sense of achievement waits for them. The songs to compose the medley were mostly about loves or ties, as always favored by Oda. The implication is for identifying a human meaning of life and hope who is both a mankind and an animal one should start by realizing that it cannot be developed solely alone.
The core essence that caused Japan to have fallen in the blockade situation is in the fact that each individual is separated, isolated and that the social functions to relieve them became extinct. In order to recover our orbit, we need to change all the vectors in the generation balance that composes the demographics, industry frameworks to root more locally, education, engagement/commitment to community, and etc. The chorus of “Promise” appeared to me a bright arrow to suggest something essentially important to our problem.
