"FujiDaiko Écho" is a commission by Ars Musica Festival (Brussels)
Premiered on 2021 November 14th by Ryoko Aoki, Noh Voice and Quatuor Amôn at Bruxelles-BOZAR
The story is about a woman whose husband (a famous drum - Taiko - player - was murdered when being at the Emperor courtyard. She did not know about it and now she searches the truth about what happened to her husband.
Here is the text sung by the voice (English translation)
However, the night after he departed, I had an alarming dream that rain was falling on a moonlit night. The dream worried me and I could not stop feeling uneasy.
***
That is a drum. / How pathetic, that is a drum. What are you looking at? Why do you think it is a drum?
***
The drumsticks in my hands I think of as swords,
and the flames of my rage should rise up to the heavens and disappear together with the decoration of flames embellishing the drum. Speaking of the heavens, as my husband visited the imperial court, he must be residing above the clouds.
Cherry blossoms blooming at the foot of Mount Fuji are tossed about and scattered in all directions by the relentless gusts blowing down from the mountain. Just like the cherry blossoms, a musician wears beautiful dance garments that are sent fluttering, forward and backward, by the movement of his dancing arms. For such dances, my husband played his drum, unparalleled as a master player in deed as well as in name. Oh, how I miss him.
Japanese text from the Noh play Fujidaiko (14th Century) :
そ の晩、月夜に雨が降るという気がかりな夢を見て、
So no ban, tsukiyo ni ame ga furu to iu ki ga karina yume o mite,
何とも胸騒ぎがしてならなかっ たのです。
Nantomo munasawagi ga shite naranakatta nodesu.
***
あれは太鼓でございます。
Are wa taiko de gozaimasu.
ああ、浅ましい、あれは太鼓ですよ。
Aa, asamashii, are wa taiko desu yo.
何をご覧にな って、太鼓と言われるのか。
Nani o goran ni natte, taiko to iwareru no ka.
***
持っている撥を剣と定め、
Motte iru bachi o tsurugi to sadame,
怒りの焔は太鼓の烽火とともに天に上がって消えてしまえ。
ikari no hono wa taiko no hōka to tomoni ten ni agatte kiete shimae.
天に上がるといえば、
Ten ni agaru to ieba,
私の夫も内裏に参上したならば、
Watashi no otto mo dairi ni sanjō shitanaraba,
雲の上人であろう。
Kumo no ue hito de arou.
あの富士の裾野の桜が、絶えず富士颪にもまれて、
Ano Fuji no susono no sakura ga, taezu fuji oroshi ni momarete,
四方へばっと散るかのように、
shihou he batto chiru no you ni,
花のように美しい舞衣を、
hana no you ni utsukushii maigi o,
差し手、引く手で翻して 伶人は舞うのだけれど、
Sashide, hikute de hirugaeshite reijin wa mau nodakeredo,
その太鼓の役を勤める夫は、
Sono taiko no yakuwotsutomeru otto wa,
名実ともに類のない名手であったよ、
Meijitsu tomoni rui no nai meishudeatta yo,
ああなつかしい。
Ā natsukashī.