Thoughts on music
How was your week, my friends? Mine was all out of whack. Yuval and I took a 5-day trip to the Istria region of Croatia from last Wednesday and came back late this Sunday night / early Monday morning. (Croatia was a beautiful country… to be saved for another post.) I went to work after barely 2 hours of sleep and kind of sleepwalked throughout the whole day.
The Shavuot holiday followed shortly after on Tuesday evening with festivities in the kibbutz. The next day felt like Shabbat (Saturday) and totally threw me off again. I’m glad the weekend is here.
皆様の一週間はいかがでしたか？
私は曜日感覚がない、ちょっぴり異常な一週間でした。
先週の水曜日からクロアチア北部のイストリア地域に５日間の旅行へ出かけ、
今週の月曜日の真夜中に帰ってきました。
（とても美しい国でしたよ、、、これはまた別のエントリーで。）
約２時間うとうとした後仕事に行き、丸一日夢の中で過ごしたような、、、辛かった 笑
火曜日の夜はシャヴオートという祝日のイブで、キブツでお祭りがありました。
翌日は祝日で、水曜日にも関わらずシャバート（土曜日）みたいで、体も頭も軽い混乱状態。
週末がやっときてくれてありがたいです。
* * * * *
I found this Tel Avivan rendition of Radiohead’s “Kharma Police” via Israel21C. I think it’s a pretty fantastic cover, being totally authentic while staying true to the original at the same time. This video also unexpectedly sent me on a long thought process about my relationship with music.
Radiohead used to be one of my favorite bands. It’s not that I don’t like them any more now, I just don’t really listen to music any more. It felt really strange typing that because just a few years ago music was such a big part of my life.
I used to put aside a monthly budget for music (along with books), and I relished my time spent flipping through new and used CDs. (The last time I was in Tokyo I was deeply saddened, though not surprised, to find that most of the used CD / record stores I used to frequent had gone out of business.) I used to listen to albums in their entirety, during commutes, while doing the laundry and cleaning my apartment on the weekends, and sometimes to do just that – to just listen to music. If those albums were in tape format instead of CDs, they would have been totally worn out thin from me listening to them so many times.
“OK Computer”, the album that includes the original “Karma Police”, was one of those albums. The first recollection I have of the song is from my days as a radio DJ at my college radio station. Back then it was just a song that was on the playlist, but I fell in love with the song and the album a few years later while living in San Francisco. I continued to listen to the album during a difficult transition moving from San Francisco to Tokyo, and while I slowly and gradually learned to love living in the latter city. It is still one of my favorite albums of all time.
But I haven’t really listened to it for a while now, or any of the music from my library really, like I used to once upon a time. Now that I think about it, I’m realizing I pretty much stopped listening since coming to Israel. It’s almost as if I can’t identify with the music any more, the music from a phase of my life that now feels very far away. The way I listen to music today is mostly through Israeli radio, and I do like a lot of what I hear. But I don’t find myself wanting to listen to something over and over again like I used to.
Nowadays I find myself turning to podcasts most of the time. Perhaps after being surrounded by a language that is still very foreign to me during the day, I crave the familiar back at home. One of my favorite things to do is to cook up a long meal or bake in the kitchen while listening to podcasts like This American Life, Bullseye, The Moth, Woman’s Hour, and Selected Shorts.
But this “Karma Police” cover by Israeli artists Rotem Shefy (vocalist) and Leat Sabbah (cellist/arranger) strangely married my past and current relationship with music. Maybe I’ll try to give “OK Computer” a listen again. I wonder how it will sound and feel in my current Israeli environment.
I hope you have a good weekend my friends.
先日Israel21Cというサイトからテルアビブ出身のアーティストによる
レディオヘッドの「Kharma Police」のカバー曲を発見しました。
エキゾチックでがらりと変身しながらもちゃんとオリジナルの面影があり、
かなり素敵なカバーだと思いました。
またこのビデオによって私の個人的な音楽への思いを考えさせられました。
私はレディオヘッドの大ファンだったんです。
過去形になってますが別に彼らを嫌いになったわけではなく、
私が総合的にほとんど音楽を聴かなくなってしまったんです。
こう実際文章に書いてみると、とても不思議な感じがする。
なぜならば数年前まで音楽は私の生活の中でなくてはならないものだったからです。
毎月音楽のための予算があったくらいで（本と共に）
レコード屋さんに行ってCDをあさる時間は私にとって貴重な時間でした。
（最近東京に行った時ショックだったのは昔常連だったCD屋さんのほとんどが
閉店していたこと、、、）
当時はシングルだけではなくアルバムを最初から最後まで丸々聴くのが好きで、
通勤中や週末洗濯や掃除をしている最中など、
もしくは何もせずただ音楽を聴きたくて聴いていた時もありました。
何度も何度も聴きまくって、もしCDではなくテープだったら
間違いなくすり切れてたアルバムもたくさんありました。
「Karma Police」が含まれるアルバム「OK Computer」はそのようなアルバムでした。
「Karma Police」の一番最初の思い出と言えば大学のラジオ局のDJをしていた時に
よくかけた曲で、その当時はただ単にプレイリストの中の一曲でしたが、
数年後サンフランシスコに住んでいた時に「OK Computer」の素晴らしさを発見し、
見事にはまってしまったのでした。
その後サンフランシスコから日本へ帰国後、生活や環境に慣れるまでの苦しい時期も
聴き続け、そして徐々に東京の生活が大好きになって行く中もずっと聴いたアルバム。
今でも人生の中で大好きなアルバムの一つです。
でもここしばらく聴いてないし、このアルバムに限らず他の音楽も昔のように聴いてません。
考えてみると、イスラエルに来てから音楽を聴かなくなったような気がします。
昔聴いていた音楽に共感できない気がするというか、
聴いていた頃の自分と当時の生活が余りにも遠い過去に感じるからかもしれません。
今は音楽と言えばイスラエルのラジオから聴くのみ。
いいな、と思う曲はたくさんあるのですが昔のように家でも何度も聴きたくはならないんですよね。
ここ数年は何かを聴くと言えばとことんポッドキャストを聴いています。
未だに半分以上理解できない言葉に一日中包まれた後は、
すーっとはいってくる言葉を欲しているのかもしれません。
最近癒しと感じるのは台所でちょっと複雑で時間のかかるレシピをトライしてみたり、
パンやお菓子作りをしながらポッドキャストを聴くこと。
英語ではThis American Life、 Bullseye、 The Moth、 Woman’s Hour、Selected Shortsなどを聴いていますが日本語で何かお勧めありませんか？
くにまるジャパンのラジオバイオグラフィーと
ラジオの街で逢いましょうはたまに聴いているのですが。
でも今回みつけたこのイスラエル人アーティストRotem Shefy（ボーカリスト）と Leat Sabbah （チェロ奏者・アレンジ）による「Karma Police」のカバーは、私の過去と現在の音楽との関係をミックスした不思議な感じ。
また「OK Computer」が聴きたくなりました。
現在のイスラエルの生活の中で聴く「OK Computer」、どのように心に響くのだろう。
長くなってしまいましたが、皆様良い週末を☆
Much love,
Kaori
Long week
How was your week, my friends?
I can say it wasn’t such a good week for the birds around here. Tuesday was Israel’s Independence Day, which meant fireworks in the evening. And not just once, but the seven or so kibbutzim in the nearby vicinity each had their own ceremony and fireworks. Even before our kibbutz’s ceremony began we heard the first set of fireworks somewhere in the distance (not even in the nearby vicinity noted earlier), which began the bouts of fireworks shooting up from various directions, in various times throughout the night, always followed by a series of bird cries.
I wish I could say I enjoyed the fireworks (and had some photos to share with you) but the truth is I wasn’t feeling so good and decided to walk back home mid-ceremony. Only about 5 minutes later (and after well settled in my bed) I heard another set of fireworks that sounded the closest yet, which I later found out was our kibbutz’s. Go figure. I had just missed it.
While fireworks were on our minds, Yuval remembered a video he saw a year or so ago about a major fireworks event somewhere where ALL of the fireworks were mistakenly shot up ALL AT ONCE in about 15 seconds! I laughed good and long at this story… and kept on laughing later on every time I thought about it. In Yuval’s memory the video was about 5 minutes long, in which the first 15 seconds is the fireworks exploding all at once, and the rest is the spectators confused or complaining.
I know the appropriate thing to do here is to post the actual video (since Yuval no longer had the link, I just googled “fireworks 15 sec” and found a few) but I’m telling you, the story itself was so funny that when I saw the actual video I was a bit disappointed! So I’m giving you the option to just imagine the story. But if you see the video… well, I warned you.
If this kind of thing were to happen in one of the major summer fireworks festivals in Japan, I don’t think people would be able to handle the disappointment. Those are whole day events, going early to secure spots, trying to avoid going to the bathroom (because of the never ending lines), receiving and making a bunch of phone calls to try and find your friends… all in the midst of mid-summer, humid, Tokyo heat.
Whenever there is a holiday mid-week the rest kind of drags by for me. By now I can’t believe Independence Day was during this same week, it somehow feels very long ago.
Finally, my heart goes out to Boston. It sounds like the city is bursting with compassion and kindness, as seen in this article and this beautifully written blog post.
I hope you have a nice weekend, my friends.
Much love,
Kaori
How a video catches on
Today I felt like I watched a video go viral before my very eyes. I initially saw this on Israelity and I immediately thought of Yuval, who couldn’t stop playing the game “Angry Birds” for a few weeks a while back.
After shabbat dinner and a few glasses of wine, Yuval decided to show the video to his brother, his brother’s teenager son and friend, and his brother’s 12-year old son, who all have played the game and were on the floor laughing. I felt like I was watching the spreading of this video from each one of them in slow motion, before it entered their online and social networks.
I personally have never played “Angry Birds” but have become familiar with its theme song after hearing it every time Yuval played it. The pain was worth it… it made me laugh at this video!
This skit is a creation of the Israeli satirical television show Eretz Nehederet.
I hope you have a great weekend, my friends.
Much love,
Kaori
10 April 2013
If someone would have told me 5, 10 years ago that one day I would be able to bake a loaf of bread (all by hand too!) and a batch of muffins while multitasking and doing other things like go out to lunch while the bread dough was rising, I would have laughed in their face. Or upon examining this photo, I would say something like, “Darn, I let it rise too much on the second rise.” I would’ve drawn a blank. Back then I was the one who always opted to bring (=buy) dessert or drinks to a potluck.
５、１０年前に誰かが将来私はパンを自分で焼くようになり（機械なしで）
それと同時にマフィンも作ったりなんかして、
その間にも他に色んなことをしていて、
パンの第一発酵中にさっとランチに行っちゃったりするような人になる、
なんて言われた日には笑うことしかできなかったと思う。
今ではこの写真をみて「しまった、第二発酵、発酵しすぎた」なんて言うようになったのだから。
ひと昔前は持ち寄りの集まりやパーティーはひたすらデザート（＝買う）か飲み物係だったもんな〜。
Much love,
Kaori
Yuval was driving through the West Bank on his route to Tel Aviv yesterday at the time of the the 10am siren. I’ve ridden on the route with him before, and it’s not a busy one. Sometimes many minutes can go by without passing a single car.
He told me that when the siren rang (on the radio only, as they were in the West Bank), there was another car that was just about to pass him on the opposite side of the road. There were three salesmen looking people inside, and they all stepped out of the car for the siren.
During the two minutes, a few more cars came by, perhaps those who didn’t have the radio on but upon seeing Yuval and the other car stopped, until there were about 6 to 7 cars in total. The cars that didn’t stop and kept on driving were the Arabs and the Orthodox Jews.
Did you pause for a minute there too? The Arabs I understand, but I was shocked to hear about the Orthodox. To put a very complicated issue short (“Don’t get me started,” said Yuval), the Orthodox do not observe Holocaust Remembrance Day because it is a day created by the state of Israel. The state of Israel is considered an abomination by the Orthodox. Since the state is man-made and not made by God, it is delaying the arrival of the Messiah and creating a true kingdom of God in the land of Israel. They apparently don’t observe the siren for the upcoming Memorial Day honoring soldiers lost in war, either.
They reject the idea of Israel yet still choose to live here and have no problems accepting all the benefits the state offers them, like tax cuts, subsidies for their children, scholarships for men studying in Yeshivas, exemption from the army, and so on.
Another example to show just how complicated Israel is.
On a different note, I would like to share a powerful video by my friend kaie that shows a more united observation of the siren (below the Japanese text):
昨日１０時にサイレンが鳴った時、
ユバルはテルアビブへ向かう途中で西岸地区にいた。
何度か同じルートを彼と一緒に走ったことがあるが、
ほとんどガラガラ状態である。
数分間ほかの車をみないことは普通だ。
サイレンが鳴った時（西岸地区なのでラジオのみ）
ちょうど対向車線から車が一台通り過ぎるところだった。
セールスマンぽい人が３人乗っていて、彼らは全員車から降りた。
二分間の間に、ラジオをつけていなかったため１０時になったことを気付かなかったのか、
ユバルともう一台の車をみて止まった車が最終的には６、７台いたとのこと。
止まらず通り過ぎていったのはアラブ人が乗った車と、正統派ユダヤ教徒が乗った車。
これを聞いて皆様も一瞬目を疑っただろうか？
私はアラブ人はもちろんわかるけど、正統派ユダヤ人が止まらないなんて？
これはとても複雑な話だがユバルのウルトラ短縮版によると、
ホロコースト記念日はイスラエル国が決めた日なので正統派は守らないとのこと。
なぜならば正統派にとってイスラエルという国は醜態なのだそうだ。
イスラエル国は神様によってではなく人工的につくられたため、
彼らが待ち受けている救世主の到来と、
神による純粋な王国の設立を妨げているのだそう。
正統派は来週の戦没者追悼記念日のサイレンも守らないみたいだ。
彼らはイスラエルという国は認めないけど、それでもここに住んでいるし、
国から与えられる減税、子供手当、宗教を勉強している男性に対する奨学金、兵役免除など、
様々な援助や福祉手当は受け取っている。
イスラエルという国がどれだけ複雑かを実感させられる例の一つだ。
話題は変わるが、以下のビデオはブログ友達のkaieが
アップロードしたホロコースト記念日のサイレン時のビデオ。
こちらはユバル版よりはるかに結束している：
Much love,
Kaori
Holocaust Remembrance Day
One of my co-workers showed up wearing all black to work today, and I immediately wondered if I should have too. But then to my relief my boss and other co-worker came wearing their usual clothes.
I found myself feeling a mixture of dread and nervousness towards the siren all morning. I don’t know how my co-workers can take it. It was a very emotional 2 minutes for me as it was last year. Perhaps after standing through the siren for over 30 years, you get used to it.
Today is one of those dusty, smoggy days when I can’t see the mountains in the distance. This place can use some rain, but since it feels somewhere between spring and summer now I won’t be surprised if we don’t see a drop for the next 4 or 5 months.
今日はイスラエルのホロコースト記念日。
職場に着いたら仕事仲間が黒ずくめの格好をしていた。
私もそうするべきだったかと焦ったけど、後から出勤してきた上司ともう一人の仕事仲間は
いつも通りの格好をしていたのでほっとした。
１０時に鳴る２分間のサイレンに対して不安と緊張を感じる自分がいた。
去年と同様、仕事仲間達はサイレンの前後はいつも通りに振る舞い、
さらっとした感じだった。
でも私にとってはなぜかとても感情的で、辛い２分間なのだ。
仕事仲間達はもう３０年以上毎年経験しているから、感情がこみ上げるようなことはないのだろうか。
今日は近くの山がみえないほどほこりっぽかった。
雨が降ったらありがたいけど、もう雨の季節は去り、
今は春と夏の間のように感じる。
だからこれから４、５ヶ月ぐらい雨が降らないことは全然ありえるのだ。
Much love,
Kaori
Holocaust Remembrance Day Eve
Today is the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day. At work my boss asked me if I remembered, and I said of course, but then she mentioned that everything will be closed from around early evening today, and I realized I actually didn’t remember that. Last year the 2-minute long siren on the actual Remembrance Day left such a strong impression on me (the entry I wrote about it is here and the entry with a stunning video of the siren is here) that I had forgotten about all the stores closing down.
Yuval should be on the road tomorrow when the siren goes off. I wonder what his experience will be like.
Much love,
Kaori
Movies on my mind
Today was a very movie-heavy day. In the morning, while I caught up on my weekend online reading, I came across a few articles about American movie critic Roger Ebert who passed away earlier this week. The New York Times obituary and Roger Ebert’s Twenty Best Reviews were my favorites. I’m sad to have not known Mr. Ebert’s articles when he was alive, but I am sure I will be visiting his website in the future. I am always looking for interesting movies to watch, and there is nothing like a good, thoughtful review that will enhance the whole movie experience.
In the afternoon I watched The Kid With A Bike. Since the preview alone had made me tear up I had very high expectations, and while the film was still very good, it wasn’t as good as I had hoped. I would say 3.5 out of 5 stars.
I also started to watch Beauty is Embarrassing, a documentary about artisit Wayne White, but I only got through about half. I really enjoyed what I’ve seen so far though.
I hope you’re having a great weekend, my friends.
Much love,
Kaori
Rainbow for your weekend.
Not a bad sight to see first thing in the morning.
朝一番にみるのに決して悪くない景色。
How was your week, my friends? Mine went by in a blur. Mid-week marked the end of Passover break, but even before Passover was over people were already starting to talk about Yom Ha’atzumaut (Isareli Independence Day), which is in a little over a week.
You may have noticed the number of posts have suddenly hiked up around here. I’ve decided to challenge myself to write a post every day for a year, starting April 1st. (April 1st is the beginning of fiscal and academic years in Japan so I felt it was a good time to start, since I missed January 1st!) I’ve created a new category called Daily Words 2013-14.
Edited to add: I was only able to keep up this mission for 2 weeks! Oh well. I will continue to try to post as often as I can. (19 April 2013)
I hope you have a great weekend, my friends.
皆様の一週間はいかがでしたか？
私はあっという間に過ぎた感じでした。
今週の半ばにペサハの祝日が終了しましたが、
終了する前からもう次の大きな祝日であるイスラエルの独立記念日の
話をする人もいました（祝日は約一週間弱後）。
ここ数日の間にいきなりエントリーの数が増えましたが、
４月１日から１年間、毎日文章を中心としたエントリーを更新することに
チャレンジしようと思います。
（１月１日は逃してしまったので、
日本でいう新学期・新年の意味で４月１日はいい日だと思って）
新カタゴリーDaily Words 2013-14も設定しました。
追伸：このチャレンジは２週間続けるのがやっとでした！
やれやれ。でもできるだけ今後も更新を目指したいと思ってます。（２０１３年４月１９日）
では皆様良い週末を！
Much love,
Kaori
When you stop caring | どうでもよくなる時
A random thought occurred to me today about the older generation of the people I see every day in the kibbutz. When does one stop caring, and for what reason?
This can of course be interpreted in many ways, for many things, but today I’m specifically talking about appearance and how one presents him or herself.
I first thought about the ladies and recalled a Japanese article I once read somewhere that was about when “a woman stops being a woman”. It said this can happen regardless of menopause; it happens when a woman stops caring.
In a place like a kibbutz where we’re surrounded by agriculture and it’s a fairly simple life style, I think it’s easier to stop caring. But I see many ladies who put in the effort and take good care of themselves. And it’s not about being stylish or good at applying makeup or having a lot of money for those things. Regardless of good or bad taste, makeup or no makeup, or the amount of money spent, there’s a difference between someone who still cares and someone who has pretty much let go.
The more I think about it, this really doesn’t only have to do with the older generation. I think it can happen at almost any age. So the question is, what keeps a person caring? I think the Japanese article I mentioned earlier basically said that once a woman stops feeling the desire to be attractive to the opposite sex (and I want to add, to the same sex if that is your preference) is when one stops caring. But I think it’s a bit more deeper than that.
Even among the men, there are those who are well in to their pension years in the kibbutz that wear a crisp button down shirt and slacks every day. For them, I wonder if some of it has to do with habit. Maybe they actually feel more comfortable in those clothes than say, sweatpants and a tank top?
Now I’m really self conscious all of a sudden. I certainly don’t put nearly as much effort or be creative with my appearance now as I once did in Tokyo, but I hope I don’t look like I’ve “let go”!
キブツで毎日見る高年齢の人達について、今日ふとした疑問が頭の中に浮かんだ。
「どうでもよくなる時」はいつ、そしてなぜ、訪れるのだろう？
これはもちろん色んなことに例えられるが、
私が今回疑問に思ったのは外見、身だしなみのこと。
まず女性のことを考えた時、少し前にどこかで読んだ
「女性が女性でなくなる時」のような内容の記事を思い出した。
これは更年期には関係なく、女性が「どうでもよくなった時」に起こると書いてあった気がする。
畑や牧場に囲まれ、シンプルなライフスタイルが主流なキブツでは
どうでもよくなりやすくても仕方ないと思う。
でも努力をいれているな、と思う女性はたくさんいる。
ファッショナブルであるとか、お化粧が上手であるとか、
そのためにどれだけお金をかけているかということを言っているのではない。
センスの善し悪しに関わらず、お化粧をしていようがしてなかろうが、
努力をいれる人とどうでもよくなった人の間には明らかな違いがでると思う。
これは考えれば考えるほど、実は高年齢の人達だけに関する問題ではないと思う。
どの世代でもどうでもよくなる可能性はあると思う。
そこで疑問なのは、努力をし続ける人は何がその努力のもとになっているのか？ということ。
前の記事には男性に魅力的に写りたいという欲望がなくなった時、
（同性が好きな人は同性）
女性は女性でなくなる、というようなことが書いてあった気がするけど、
実際はそれよりもっと複雑なのだと思う。
キブツの男性の中にも、毎日きりっとしたワイシャツとズボンをはく人がいる。
彼らにとっては、昔の習慣も関係しているのかもしれない。
ジャージとランニングシャツよりもそのほうが楽なのかも。
こんなことを書いていたら、自分のことも心配になってきた。
キブツに来てからは東京にいた時と比べて断然おしゃれなんてしなくなったし
工夫をしたりすることも少なくなったけど
「どうでもよくなった」ふうにみえないように気をつけなくては。
Much love,
Kaori
