kangyimusic

I can still vividly recall my first experience of ‘Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima’ by Krzysztof Penderecki played by the Brown University orchestra. I was in awe of the capabilities of string instruments in depicting the horrific events. A huge spectrum of sounds can be generated from the manner and location of string plucking, hitting or bowing.

On the 11th March 11, an earthquake with a magnitude of 8.9 struck the Eastern coast of Japan and triggered 30 feet waves. I depict these numbers in a melody played by the flutes and clarinets. Listen as the cellos and bass pluck the strings to indicate 2.45pm (G=0, A-B-C), the time the earthquake occurred. Tsunami sirens ring to warn people to head to higher grounds. At 3.12pm, Kamaishi was the first town hit by the tsunami. Small waves quickly built up to a massive wall of water.

The horror did not end with the subsiding of the waves. A nuclear siren signals the start of the Fukushima nuclear disaster – the largest nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. 80,000 people had to leave immediately and a ghost town of 30 miles was created. A research team later found 36% of Fukushima children to have abnormal growths in their glands. These numbers form gestures above a continuous layer of haunting sounds created by bowing unconventional positions or dampening the strings. Amidst the scene of death and destruction, a solo viola sings ‘Furusato’, a nostalgic song about home. The protagonist reminisces her old home, the beautiful scenery and the people she used to embrace.