May 4, 2015

Choir of A-bomb survivors gets standing ovation at concert in New York

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201505040061

By SHOHEI OKADA/ Staff Writer

NEW YORK--A choir comprised of Nagasaki's hibakusha atomic bomb survivors had the audience on its feet and joining in at a concert here May 2 to promote nuclear disarmament.

Titled "With Love to Hiroshima and Nagasaki," the concert was held at the New York Society for Ethical Culture in Manhattan. It was hosted by Clifton Truman Daniel, the grandson of President Harry S. Truman, who authorized the 1945 bombings.

The event coincided with a United Nations conference here that is reviewing the Treaty on Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

The group is made up of about 50 survivors, whose ages range from around 69 to their late 80s, and calls itself Himawari (sunflower).

Some of the members were fetuses at the time of the bombings. The choir marked its 10th anniversary last November. Until the trip to the United States, the group had never performed abroad.

The group is headed by Kazumichi Terai, who composed a song to support a string of lawsuits by the hibakusha against the government. The plaintiffs sought official recognition as survivors of the atomic bombings. Initially, the group started off with 10 or so members, but gradually grew in size.

Himawari, which gave the last performance of the night, opened with the songs "Mo Nidoto" (Never again) and "Urakami." They were sung in the hope that no one will ever fall victim to nuclear warfare again.

At one point, a violinist performed on an instrument that survived one of the bombings. The survivors also shared personal stories with the audience.

"I came feeling frail," said Aiko Tanaka, 79. "But I transform when I perform. When I sing, the feelings I had when the atomic bomb hit come back to me.”

Tanaka was playing in her elementary school in Nagasaki, 3.5 kilometers from ground zero, when the bomb detonated. Memories of people burned in the blast "come flooding back" when she performs.

The third song was written exclusively for the concert and sung together with local high school students.

"We Never Forget," with its English lyrics, was the show-closer and sung with the help of the audience.

"I'm so glad to be alive,” said 69-year-old Yachiyo Ohira. “I'm so happy that I was able to sing here."

Ohira had only just been conceived when the attack occurred. She later lost her own son to cancer, which she has suffered from herself. Although Ohira did not directly experience the horrors of the bombing, she sings with the group to promote peace through music.

Ohira was nervous before the tour as she had never traveled abroad. But once she arrived in the United States, she realized "there are many people who feel the same way as I do."

"I thought, I should do my best with all my heart and keep doing what I can," she said.

The group sings each August at the peace memorial ceremony held in Nagasaki. It is scheduled to perform in Munich in the fall.