<15> Sarah Àlainn Quartet (Billboard Live TOKYO)

Billboard Live TOKYO

One day in April, after spending more time than expected at the “Heatherwick Studio Exhibition” at Roppongi Mori Art Museum “Tokyo City View”, I headed straight to Roppongi Midtown.

There I met with two friends, had a meal, and then headed to Billboard Live TOKYO on the fourth floor.

This is where one of my friends is a corporate member, and he invites us to the concert once in a while.

I have had the opportunity to see concerts here by various artists such as Junko Ohashi, Maki Ohguro, Hideaki Tokunaga and Anri, and so on.

After all, live performances are good once in a while.

Tonight is the “Sarah Àlainn Quartet”.

The official title is

Sarah Àlainn Quartet ~You Must Believe in Spring~

In the explanation on the homepage, it says;

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Sarah Àlainn Quartet

Sarah Àlainn, who continues to fascinate domestic and foreign fans with her soothing singing voice, overwhelmingly powerful pops & jazz, splendid violin, and colorful Sarah world, has decided to tour three Billboard live venues. She celebrated her 10th anniversary last year and has expanded her playing field with her diverse charms. On stage with a talented trio. Be intoxicated by the one and only powerful singing voice and violin tone.
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About her profile, her official website says as follows;

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She is from Australia. She is a vocalist, violinist, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, copywriter, translator, television and radio personality. She is multilingual in English, Japanese, Italian and Latin. A synesthete who sees sounds in colors. An artist who is active in a wide range of genres.
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Below that is a detailed profile.

If you are interested, please read her official website profile directly.

After graduating from Sydney University with High Distinction, she is a talented woman who studied abroad at the University of Tokyo.
She also has a regular appearance on NHK’s “Otona no Kiso Eigo (Basic English for Grown-ups)” and has worked on theme songs for various TV programs.

As for her singing voice, it says;

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It is scientifically proven that her voice over 3 octaves contains a healing effect called “1/f fluctuation”.
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So I’m really looking forward to hearing her live.

When I was guided to my seat, it was the second table seat from the stage, a little right hand side, just the right distance. The performance started at 20:00.

It’s pretty great.

This time it’s a quartet, so it’s composed of piano, bass, and drums + Sarah Àlainn, and we can enjoy Sarah Àlainn’s various styles, such as playing the violin.

I like the composition of the basics, piano, bass, and drums, so I was able to enjoy it considerably.

There were many songs I knew.

I enjoyed listening to songs such as “Calling You” from the movie “Baghdad Cafe,” which I saw in the theater long ago, and songs that are perfect for her high, beautiful voice. Regarding this “Baghdad Cafe”, I also bought a sound track CD, and it was nice to hear it with a different voice.

” Haru Yo, Koi” and EXPO 2005 Aichi, Japan “Love The Earth”

In addition, Yumi Matsutoya‘s “Haru Yo, Koi” was also performed.

After all, as long as I live, even if I spend my ordinary life (?), I can’t help but be related to the Expo.

Speaking of “Haru Yo, Koi “, it is the famous song which was sung at the concert of the project “Love The Earth” of “Expo 2005 Aichi, Japan” .

On the official website of EXPO 2005 Aichi, Japan, which still exists today, there is an explanation of this concert by Yumi Matsutoya and others, with some photos.

Quoted below (translated to English by the author).

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Yumi Matsutoya sang passionately at “Love The Earth” concert.
The 3-day weekend just before the end of Expo was flooded with rushing customers

On the 23rd ( of September), the first day of the three-day weekend before the end of the Expo, the EXPO 2005 AICHI JAPAN site was packed with people rushing in from the morning. At 8:20 am, when the doors opened 40 minutes earlier than usual, more than 35,000 people were waiting at the four entrance gates. At the venue, the appearance of visitors enjoying making memories and the finale event was conspicuous. The number of visitors was 234,031.

Also, at EXPO Dome, the final performance of EXPO 2005 AICHI, JAPAN’s largest music event “Love The Earth” was held from 7:00 pm, and Yumi Matsutoya performed with four artists from various Asian countries. In the morning, the lawn of Expo Plaza, where the live broadcast of the concert was held, was filled with leisure sheets.

On stage, Ms. Matsutoya sang a number of hit songs. The venue was in a vortex of heat at an unprecedented attempt to sing “Smile again” composed for “Love The Earth” in four languages: Japanese, English, Chinese, and Korean. Matsutoya said, “It will be a moving stage where you can feel a sense of unity, and it will be a lifetime memory for all.” “I was overwhelmed by Yuming’s power,” the audience gave a standing ovation.

“Love The Earth” is a project that conveys the message that “people should rediscover their connection with nature and the earth” through the “common language” of music. It will be handed over to the Shanghai World Expo. (September 23rd)
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This “Love The Earth” project, as explained in the last paragraph above, was planned as a project of the Japan Association for the 2005 World Exposition.

It was a gorgeous event with the participation of Naoki Tachikawa serving as general producer and Eric Clapton served as an executive music consultant, with world-famous cellist Yo-Yo Ma, soprano vocalist Sarah Brightman, Yumi Matsutoya, Tomoyasu Hotei, who also appeared at the opening ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, MISIA who also appeared at the opening ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, and others .

On September 23rd, just before the end of the Expo 2005 (Expo 2005 was held until September 25^th), Yumi Matsutoya’s concert was held at the EXPO Dome. And the concert was relayed to a large Panasonic screen of Expo Plaza.

I was lucky enough to be at the EXPO Dome at that time, although it was a part of my job.

This concert was a five-person collaboration with four artists from other countries of Asia: amin (Chinese vocal), Lim Hyun-Joo (Korea vocal), Dick Lee (Singapore vocal), and Xu Ke (Chinese erhu). It embodied the philosophy of “Love The Earth”.

In this concert, along with “Smile again“, the one that left an impression on me personally was this ” Haru Yo, Koi.” This was sung by Lim Hyun-Joo during the concert, but it was also sung by everyone as an encore song at the end, decorating the finale of this concert.

By the way, the songs and details at this time are introduced on this HP.

Speaking of 2005, it was already 18 years ago, but just listening to this song takes me back to that time.

Ryuichi Sakamoto and Expo

Now, back to Billboard’s Sarah Àlainn Quartet.

On March 28th this year, Ryuichi Sakamoto (1952 – 2023) just passed away, so maybe it was a “memorial”, “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence” was also played.

Speaking of Ryuichi Sakamoto, he is, of course, a member of YMO. When I was a university student, YMO was a big boom. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard “Yellow Magic Orchestra” or “Proliferation X∞MULTIPLIES”.

Moreover, Ryuichi Sakamoto is also involved in World Expos.

In an interview with Bijutsu Techo, he said as follows;

“…It reminded me of the sound sculptures by sculptor François Baschet and the musical instruments by Harry Bertoia that were on display at the 1970 Osaka Expo at the ‘Steel Pavilion’ produced by composer Toru Takemitsu. …”

It seems that he visited the ‘Steel Pavilion’ at the Osaka Expo in 1970.

Also, at the Tsukuba Expo ‘85, he performed the legendary performance called “TV WAR” on September 15, 1985 (one day before the closing date of September 16) with RADICAL TV (a video performance unit by Mr. Haruhiko Shono and Mr. Daizaburo Harada). “TV WAR” was performed using Sony‘s huge monitor “Jumbotron” (25m x 40m, 2000 inches), which was the world’s largest at the time. The concept of this performance was by Akira Asada.

It was an epoch-making performance that featured images of various wars. This expo was a “science and technology exposition,” but I think the performance made us recognize the “negative aspects” of science and technology.

At the Osaka Flower Expo in 1990, he participated in the “Hikari Fantasy Denryokukan” (Federation of Electric Power Companies). This was a ride-type pavilion, where visitors, riding on the ‘Luminar’, could experience different spaces where lights flew around to the music “THE FANTASY OF LIGHT & LIFE” composed by Ryuichi Sakamoto. (Mikiko Ishii was the general producer of this pavilion.)

He also participated in the planning of the EXPO 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan.

According to the announcement in April 2022, Ryuichi Sakamoto was involved in event planning at the “I am You” pavilion, which Shinichi Fukuoka is in charge of, among the “Signature Pavilion” pavilions led by eight theme project producers. Sakamoto’s MR (Mixed Reality) concert was being planned.

According to the association’s website, it says:

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[Aim]
Performing concerts and live performances with the theme of life,
By immersing yourself in a space where everything is united like one life,
Experience the concept of ‘I am You’

[Overview]
Perform a concert produced by Ryuichi Sakamoto with the theme of life.
Use MR (Mixed Reality) that superimposes a hologram effect on the shape of the real world.
Create a comfortable sense of unity where the creatures and the performance will respond to each other, using video production method by which we feel as if the person is there, and other lighting effects.

[Venue]
Large event hall
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Unfortunately, the producer passed away two years before the event, so the people involved must be trying to figure out how to make this project a reality.

Billboard again

Well, let’s go back to Billboard’s “Sarah Àlainn Quartet” again.

The concert ended on a high note, with songs such as “Roppongi Shinju”, perhaps related to Roppongi. Today was ‘Senshuuraku’ of the series of her concert, she said.

At the Billboard venue, the back of the stage was closed with a black curtain all the time, but during the final encore, the curtain was suddenly opened so that the splendid night view of Roppongi could be seen.

While gazing at the dazzling night view of Roppongi with the curtain open,

Thinking about the relationship between people such as Yumi Matsutoya, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Heatherwick Studio and World Expos,
While realizing the healing effect of “1/f fluctuation” contained in Sarah Àlainn ‘s voice,
I finished another fulfilling day with Expo.