Commissioned by Joto Junior High School wind orchestra in Akita (Dir. Hiromitsu Iijima), and premiered by their trio. It received the Gold Award at the 40th Akita Prefecture All Japan Ensemble Contest.
In our modern lives, we heavily rely on sight amongst our five senses. We recognize the colors of traffic lights, photos and articles on the internet, landscapes, and people's expressions.
However, what if you were to spend a day by the seashore with your eyes closed? Usually, you might capture the moment with a smartphone and share it on social media, but on that day, try doing nothing but keeping your eyes closed and feeling everything with your body. You'll likely sense the sound of the waves, the scent of the sea breeze, the taste of the salty air, the rough texture of the sand, and the calls of seabirds. Perhaps, in the hustle of our daily lives where we heavily rely on our sense of sight, there are many things we fail to truly feel.
The title is "Invisible Birds," but birds are typically visible. However, when we put "invisible" before "birds," it probably means that these birds exist within the perception, imagination, or memory of the listener or performer.
Recently, many things have been visualized. Dialogue between machine and human interactions and AI technology are popular topics, and if emotions and intentions were visualized and digitalized, machines would respond based on the data. With the advancement of technology, they might possess emotions in a not-distant future.
However, because it is invisible, I'm posing questions that delve into the profound depths of each individual's sensibility when they connect with this. There are old analog qualities, warmth, and imperfection that are distinctly human, and I find fascination in those.
If you could embrace the birds within their hearts or with the sounds and sheet music I expressed, that would be a great honor to me as a composer.
(Shuhei Tamura)
