Voice of Peace: Conversation with a Japanese soprano
By Anand Gurung
A real lady always makes you wait -- wait for an opportunity to see her, and if you finally meet her then will make you wait for her approval, her disapproval, and would even make you wait for something to wait for.
So I didn’t mind waiting for Japanese soprano Seiko Lee in the lobby of the Soaltee Hotel for a small interview her manager had fixed after much request. In her first ever concert held at the National Academy hall the previous night Seiko had enthralled the audience with her fabulous singing and the remarkable range and versatility of her mesmerising voice that has earned her the reputation of one of the most accomplished singers from opera to popular music, and I for one had been enamored by her charming performance and sensitive vocal styling.
“So sorry to make you wait,” said Seiko Lee with a pleasant smile when she finally showed up in the lobby with her manager. She was not dressed as flamboyantly as the previous night, but still looked beautiful and exuded the same charm and grace with which she captivated the audience throughout her performance. After we took our seats I immediately started the conversation by asking her about her singing, asked her about her chosen vocation and how it is different or similar to that of others.
She was a little struck by this straightforward question at first, but smiling her elegant smile said very modestly, “I hope I can properly answer your question.” Then gaining her composure as if she was about to give a performance, she began very slowly, as expected from a cultured Japanese lady, “Most singers and musicians perform at concerts and I also do the same. We try to give to the audience the joy of music. But after giving so many concerts I started to ask myself should music only serve the purpose of giving joy to listeners? Yes that is important but at the same time I also wanted to dedicate my performances to solving various conflicts and problems that divided communities, nations and the world. Through my singing I also wanted to give comfort to people, give them hope, and spread the message of peace.”
But how can music solve these problems? I ask her. Isn’t it asking for too much? “Yes, you may be right,” she says, “but I believe that the root cause of all the problems the humanity faces is resentment. From it has arisen all the conflict we are seeing in the world. So I want to prove that harmony and world peace can be realised through music and singing.”
In fact, beyond her reputation as a gifted singer in both the opera house and concert stage, Seiko is also equally passionate about issues of world peace and human rights. She is a charter member of the Artists Association for World Peace and has contributed to numerous social and charitable activities, including reconciliation projects in Rwanda and Nigeria.
“It is people who make the country not the other way round. In fact, country means people. I have performed in Israel where there is great hostility between Israelis and Palestinian people. There I learned that if we try to understand others then that is a first step for peace,” she says.
Seiko, who appeared as a featured soloist in the ‘Three Sopranos World Peace Concert’ in Paraguay in 2007, further says that music is the most effective medium to spread the message of peace because music has no philosophy or theory to offer, and in a very subtle way it can describe what is indescribable.
“Everybody can listen to music together and be touched at the same time. By sharing happiness and tears through music, people’s heart could be linked. This is what I mean to do through my music,” says she.
Her concert in Nepal was also not just to give the joy of her music to the Nepali audience but also for a noble cause -- for a charity event in aid of the Breast Cancer Awareness Project. Besides she has made frequent appearances at the United Nations in peace concerts.
In 2001, Seiko released her first collection ‘Songs of Peace’ and four years later in 2005 she released her second collection ‘Liberation-Songs of My Spiritual Country’. She dedicated both critically acclaimed collections to her peace initiative aimed at healing the historic enmity between Japan and Korea. And the fact that she was a Japanese woman married to a Korean, and could sing very well in Korean too helped. In the course she traveled extensively to Japan and Korea to promote the healing and reconciliation of these two countries through music.
“I am not singing for some political or religious reasons. Frankly speaking, I am not expert of those fields. The reason was that I wanted to do something about the historic enmity between Japan and North Korea. I wanted to make my music act as a bridge between the people of these two countries. And I want to do the same thing wherever there is conflict and enmity in the world. My message is that even though our race, religion, culture and language may different but our hearts are same and we can try to understand each other,” she says.
Born in Tokyo, Japan, Seiko began her musical training in piano, voice and flute at a tender age of five although she says no one from her family was into music. She mostly spent her first seven years as a performer by appearing in the NHK Tokyo Children's Choir. As its member she traveled on several good-will tours including a concert tour of Eastern Europe in 1976.
After graduating from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts, ranking highest in her music department, she went to United States where she soon got an operatic debut with the prestigious New York Henry Street Theater Opera in 1991. Since then she never had to look back. She appeared with the La Scaletta Opera and the Connecticut Opera as well as numerous international opera productions including Carmen, Macbeth, La Traviata, Cosi fan tutte, and Un Destino Immortale. In 1998 she presented a joint recital in Asuncion, Paraguay with national icon, Gloria del Paraguay.
Later Seiko went on to perform in both the opera house and concert stage in some of the world’s preeminent venues including New York's Lincoln Center, Manhattan Center and Madison Square Garden, Japan’s Makuhari Messe and Shin Koguki-kan Stadium and Seoul's Olympic Stadium in 1992 where she performed for 120,000 people as part of the first World Cultural and Sports Festival. Then international recognition and worldwide name and fame followed. In 2006 she became one of the few Japanese artists to perform in North Korea, a result of her peace advocacy through music.
But she is still modest about her achievements. Says she, “I do have some limitation as a soprano because I didn’t inherit it through my ancestors like a Russian, Italian or Greek opera singers did. But still I strive to heal people’s heart through music, serve people using my talent and show them the moral of music. And this I believe gives uniqueness to my voice liked by so many and I am blessed for it.”
At the end I couldn’t resist asking her about one aspect of Sopranos that really amuses me -- them breaking glasses when they raise their voice to high octave in a typical fashion of sopranos.
“No, not yet,” she laughs out loud for the first time in the interview, “I don’t know. But many times when I sing the glasses do make sound some far away. Yes that happens. But I haven’t broken glasses yet.”
Then remembering her fabulous performance, I request her to sing for me, even though it may be for few minutes.
“What kind of song do you like?” she smilingly asks again, “You know what, opera singers need really to warm up before singing. Otherwise, you know it would be very hard.”
I insist upon it, so that this interview becomes memorable to me. Cause how many times do you get an internationally acclaimed opera singer sing especially for you [even though seeing me interviewing her in front of a camera and probably knowing from the manager that Seiko is an opera singer, few tourist had gathered around us, and since I had asked her to perform, were now anticipating one]. So, the fine lady she is, in a very lady like manner gives me three choices --classical, artistic or modern song. I couldn’t figure out, but just for the sake I ask her to sing a classical piece.
She says okay. Gathers herself up a bit. And then her lips pout and then a soothing voice as if wafts from it. She didn’t raise the voice to high octave since it was a lobby of the hotel, but it still left those listening to it as if spell-bound. And that is the least you could expect while in company of a real lady. nepalnews.com Mar 16 08
(The writer can be reached at: andygurung@yahoo.com)
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