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Sakura Sakura

by aoi

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My interpretation of the classical Japanese song "Sakura Sakura"

Lyrics are as follows (transliterated from kanji, to hiragana, to romaji, and translated to english):

桜　桜
弥生の空は
見渡す限り

さくら　さくら
やよい　の　そら　は
みわたす　かぎり

sakura sakura
yayoi no sora wa
mi-watasu kagiri

Cherry blossoms, cherry blossoms,
Across the spring sky,
As far as the eye can see.

And a quote by herr Thomas Mann which I found relevant (originally written about Schubert's version of the folk song "Der Lindenbaum" [The Linden Tree]):

"What was the world behind the song, which the motions of his conscience made to seem a world of forbidden love?
It was death.
What utter and explicit madness! That glorious song! An indisputable masterpiece, sprung from the profoundest and the holiest depths of racial feeling; a precious possession, the archetype of the genuine; embodied loveliness. What vile detraction!
Yes. Ah, yes! All very fine. Thus must every upright man speak. But for all that, behind this so lovely and pleasant artistic production stood - death. It had with death certain relations, which one might love, yet not without consciously acknowledging a certain illicit element in one's love.
[...]
This was a fruit, sound and splendid enough for the instant or so, yet extraordinarily prone to decay; the purest refreshment of the spirit, if enjoyed at the right moment, but the next, capable of spreading decay and corruption among men. It was the fruit of life, conceived of death, pregnant of dissolution; it was a miracle of the soul, perhaps the highest, in the eye and sealed with the blessing of conscienceless beauty; but on cogent grounds regarded with mistrust by the eye of shrewd geniality dutifully "taking stock" in its love of the organic; it was a subject for self-conquest at the definite behest of conscience.
Yes, self-conquest - that might well be the essence of triumph over this love, this soul-enchantment that bore such sinister fruit!"
- Thomas Mann, in The Magic Mountain

Thanks to Sonica Instruments for the wonderful virtual koto.
Thank you for listening.

-aoi

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released July 26, 2019

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aoi Montreal, Québec

"Interesting phenomena probably always have this double face of past and future, probably are always progressive and regressive in one. They display the equivocalness of life itself."
Thomas Mann - Doctor Faustus

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