Words and Music: Blood & Chrysanthemums

April 2nd, 2022Posted by Nancy

This was the book for which I had the most difficulty choosing a passage to read.  I had sections that I’d performed successfully before, but they tended to be long, require explanations, and lack any shorter sections that had internal arcs.  This latter is very important in readings, at least for me, because I want there to be a sense of story, even in a short excerpt.  It needs, at the least, a movement towards something, even if the climax of the scene isn’t included.  Ending on a cliff-hanger works, too, but there needs to be enough before that point to make the tension meaningful.

In the end, I went for the opening of the Hiroshima entry from Fujiwara’s diary.  I used to read the entire chapter at events and inevitably would choke up on the last paragraph.  Which made me very happy, even when I had to go off-stage wiping away my tears.

It was a challenge to find appropriate images but the illustrations for the Night Parade of 100 Demons proved a good starting place and set the style for the highly processed images that Richard assembled to match the mood of the words and music.

Don’t forget to check Richard’s Youtube channel for his other compositions and videos.

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