On: My Favorite Song from Japan

by Donnie Hayden © 2014, all rights reserved

Music from Japan
Music from Japan

In 2006, Susan and I were (together) 🙂 , in Japan.

Not everyday, but quite often I would begin my mornings with a cup of coffee from a McDonald’s in Moriyama, literally right across the street from where we were staying. It was always clean and always inviting. It was a comfortable place to hang out. I would listen to music over their sound system always in Japanese. And always, I was clueless to the meaning of the words being sung. This did not prevent me from enjoying it anyway as music, a universal language, has a way of communicating.

One particular morning when I came in, somewhere around the end of July, a new song was playing. I was instantly drawn to the beautiful sounds and the soothing voice of the singer. Armed with a book of Japanese words with pronunciations and English translations and my limited understanding, I set out to try and find out what I could about the song. Our friend and adopted daughter, Yukari, told me it was from an animated movie called Gedo Senki (Tales from Earthsea). Knowing that I had become fond of Japanese music (traditional and modern), her brother made me a DVD with several videos of Japanese Music, including this particular song. To this day, I cannot find this disk. But one day before we left Japan, I was inside a music store and all I could remember or pronounce was Gedo Senki. A store clerk helped me find the CD with this song as a single. It has taken me nearly eight years, to find out all the information I wanted to know then and the translation of the words in English. I share here with you friend-reader that you may enjoy this haunting and beautiful song as I have. 

Gedo Senki (Tales from Earthsea ゲド戦記 is a feature anime film from Studio Ghibli, released in Japan on July 29, 2006. It was the first film directed by Gorō Miyazaki, son of Hayao Miyazaki. The movie is loosely based on a combination of plots and characters from the first, third, and fourth books of the Earthsea series, A Wizard of EarthseaThe Farthest Shore, and Tehanu, by Ursula K. Le Guin.

The singer is Aoi Teshima (手嶌葵 Teshima Aoi, born June 21, 1987 in Hakata, Fukuoka, Japan. Aoi Teshima is a Japanese singer and voice actor. In March 2005, she acted in “Japan-Korea slow music’s world” in South Korea and her performance was favorably received among the audience. Her performance attracted the attention of anime director Gorō Miyazaki. Toshio Suzuki was also very impressed when he listened to her demo version of Bette Midler’s “The Rose.” On June 7, 2006, she finally released a song called “Therru’s song” (テルーの唄 Terū no Uta.

Aoi Teshima is in essence, a shy and humble choir girl whose unobtrusive voice soothes your senses and reminds you of our love for nature, for the purity of life and for love itself. I love this song and more so in Japanese, but I will also share the English words and music to follow.

 

Teru no Uta (Therru’s song)

Music by Hiroko Taniyama – Lyrics by Miyazaki Goro

words in Japanese, and sung by Aoi Teshima

JAPANESE

Yuuyami semaru kumo no ue
Itsumo ichiwa de tonde iru
Taka wa kitto kanashi karou
Oto mo todaeta kaze no naka
Sora wo tsukanda sono tsubasa
Yasumeru koto wa deki nakute

Kokoro wo nani ni tatoe you
Taka no you na kono kokoro
Kokoro wo nani ni tatoe you
Sora wo mau yo na kanashi sa wo

Ame no sobo furui wakage ni
Itsumo chiisaku saite iru
Hana wa kitto setsuna karou
Iro mo kasunda ame no naka
Usu momo-iro no hanabira wo
Medete kureru te mo nakute

Kokoro wo nani ni tatoe you
Hana no you na kono kokoro
Kokoro wo nani ni tatoe you
Ame ni utareru setsuna sa wo

Hitokage taeta no no michi wo
Watashi totomo ni ayunderu
Anata mo kitto samishi karou
Mushi no sasayaku kusahara wo
Tomo ni michiyuku hito dakedo
Taete mono iu koto mo naku

Kokoro wo nani ni tatoe you
Hitori michiyuku kono kokoro
Kokoro wo nani ni tatoe you
Hitoribocchi no samishi sa wo

 sung by, Aoi Teshima

Teru no Uta (Therru’s song)

 

Music by Hiroko Taniyama – Lyrics by Miyazaki Goro

words in English, arranged and sung by Saskia Kusrahadianti

 

ENGLISH
 
Far, far above the clouds
Soaring with the wind
A falcon flies alone
Silent as the sky
I hear his lonely cry
Never can he rest
 
I walk with you alone
An empty winding road
We’re far from
The ones we love
Never can they turn
Never can we see again
Countries of our birth
 
When will I ever find
A place to call my home
Sadness circling
Like a falcon in the sky
When will I ever find
A way to speak my heart
To someone who knows
What it is to be alone
 
Far, far above the clouds
Against the setting sun
A falcon flies alone
Silent as the sky
I hear his lonely cry
Never can he rest
 
I long to spread my wings
And fly into the light
Open this lonely heart
To one who understands
When will I ever find
A way to speak my heart
 
When will I ever find
A place to call my home
Sadness and loneliness
A falcon in the sky
When will I ever find
A way to speak my heart
To someone who knows
What it is to be alone

sung and arranged by, Saskia Kusrahadianti

If you are interested in more information about this song, how I came to hear it and a higher quality mp3 audio file in Japanese, please start at the following page and click through:

http://dahni.com/DahniDaily/Japan3.htm

Note: The mp3 file is located at http://dahni.com/DahniDaily/Japan6.htm and is intended for HIGH SPEED Internet users, otherwise, it may take some time to download and hear it.

On: Aren’t You Glad…

by Donnie Hayden © 2014, all rights reserved

…Yeh, aren’t you glad that Instead of this, right now here…

Snow-storm-SNOW_ani
…and working on taxes, you could be here…
…and even if it was snowing I could be heading to this…
…and even if it was snowing you could be heading to this…
InsteadOf2
… an onsen (hot springs) at the …
InsteadOf3
…ryokan (Japanese Inn) and…
InsteadOf4
…enjoying this or…
…maybe even the first cherry festival in Japan.
…maybe even the first cherry festival in Japan!

The Kawazu Cherry Blossom Festival 河津桜祭り, (Kawazuzakura Matsuri) is held yearly from early February to early March in the city of Kawazu, located on the Izu Peninsula. The popular event celebrates the flowering of the Kawazu Cherry Trees (Kawazuzakura) and attracts almost two million visitors annually as one of the earliest opportunities in the year to see large numbers of cherry blossoms near Tokyo Japan.

Yes, ‘Aren’t You Glad’ you are there instead of here!!

Hi Honey and everyone else! See you soon! 🙂

On: Balance, Physics, Concentration, Breathing, Peace and Harmony

by Donnie Hayden © 2014, all rights reserved

Lessons you will learn and teach while you dance

Her name is Miyoko Shida [Rigolo]. She is Japanese and presently lives in Paris, France. She is approximately 52 years old. She has taken the last name of her mentor, Rigolo. Her art is called, The Sanddorn Balance.

The Sanddorn balance began over 15 years ago when Swiss theatre producer Mädir Eugster Rigolo developed a balancing act for the stage production SANDDORN. The play is set in knee-deep sand; the only props are the withered ribs of date and coconut palm leaves, which Maedir Eugster collected from the most beautiful beaches in the world. After many years it now enjoys worldwide success on vaudeville, museums, galas, exhibitions, circuses, and Cirque du Soleil among many other venues.

The Sanddorn balance astonishes nearly everyone it touches and has received the highest awards.

In February 2013, Mädir Eugster Rigolo was presented with the Kamiwaza award in Japan. In Japan, Kamiwaza is the title given to a master with superhuman abilities. The award of Kamiwaza meant that the art of Sanddornbalance had truly arrived in the land of Zen: concentration, mindfulness and conscious perception in search of absolute reality convene in the 15-minute-long performance.

This honour solidified the decision Mädir Eugster had made shortly beforehand: For more then 15 years, he was the only person to perform his fragile piece of art. He now teaches his two daughters and consults and trains and inspires many others.

“Now I will pass on this knowledge. I am very happy that I have found people who now share my experiences and will develop them further,” Maedir Eugster explains. “I trust my successors: They will guard this treasure, develop it further and give it a life of its own. The Sanddornbalance bears many secrets, and every single performer can draw one of them out and present it in their own way.”

 Mädir Eugster Rigolo

Some sit in disbelief as the art unfolds. Some refuse to suspend that disbelief and mock such with stupid remarks as, I can think of better things to do with my time or with a feather.” Some think it is a mere trick or ‘magic.’ Though it can be explained by the laws of physics, it negates the concentration, the focus, balance, grace, physical strength and the actor’s ability to pull in the audience, absolutely required to MAKE THIS ALL HAPPEN! And if I have left anything else necessary to do this, I sincerely apologise!

What is this thing, this Sanddorn balance, you are about to see for yourselves? For one thing, it is beautiful! It is as much of a dance as any dance. It is being in the NOW. You can see this in the eyes, expressions, and movements of the dance. There are no doubts, no hesitations, no questions. Every moment is purposed and purposeful, and NEW and NOW, though the same dance has been performed countless times. There is a reason and a purpose for every movement, every expression, and every stick. Not only is the dancer drawn into their own dance, the audience is drawn in as well. Her breathing becomes our breathing; her heartbeat, our heartbeat. It is music. It is a story unfolding and we are not only on the same page, we each are its words.Time is suspended! We are not thinking about what’s for dinner or what we will put on tomorrow or do tomorrow.  We are in the now!

Watching this will center you; anchor you into the moment of sublime beauty. Briefly, our ego is lost to the wonder of this poetry in motion.

What else can this teach us? Everything  and everyone is connected in some way or another. As this drama unfolds, we can see how fragile and yet how vitally important each of these connections really are or we will collapse. This point is illustrated clearly, at its conclusion. But also, not one of us will be quite the same at the end as we were at the beginning. Ahh, yes, every moment of life is unique, to be enjoyed, savored; lived! Thus a great truth is reveled to us or re-revealed within us.

No matter what you may think or believe, life, all of life is, spiritual. Who among us does NOT desire peace and harmony? Zen masters, Buddhist priests, yoga practitioners and many others, spend often, years developing the ‘tuning.’ And yet who among us are also not deeply affected by some measure of peace and harmony, by being drawn into the very ballet  of it, by those who have reached some measure of it?

It all starts with a feather and all we have that we bring into the dance, our sticks and the gravity-glue of all  our stuff we use to prop ourselves up with. Then we let it all go. It is only the feather that remains! I am certain you will understand this more fully, when you get into the dance!

“All the master dancer Miyoko Shida required from me was the technique for the Sanddorn Balance; the expression and interpretation she brings to it is pure Miyoko Shida. I am proud that Miyoko Shida has also now taken the name Rigolo.”

Mädir Eugster Rigolo

 

 

http://www.miyokoshida.com/ – under construction

https://www.facebook.com/miyoko.shida

On: The World is Yours

And We’re You’re Off!! I’m coming! 3/12! 🙂

All Checked in at Chicago
All Checked in at Chicago
Japan2
There’s your Plane!
(actual picture by Susan)
Japan3
The World is Yours!
Banner following and The Smile of God behind plane! 🙂

Happy Trails! 🙂

On: Update

Announcement
Announcement

Due to circumstances that were mostly within my control, but are not now, The Gathering Place goes global plans have changed. The good news is that Susan and the rest of you will be leaving as scheduled and ON TIME!!! 🙂

I will be leaving on March 12, 2014 and meet up with Susan and the rest of you at that time.

P.S. If you can’t make it on February 26 and you still want to go, you can come with me on 3/12/14. 🙂

On: The Gathering Place Goes Global

In just a few short days, we (Susan and You and I ) are leaving for 65 days. We will be visiting first, Japan for about a month. Then, after about a four hour lay-over in China, we’re off to Australia for about another month. We will be returning home on May 1st, 2014. Not to worry, someone will be staying at your home, your pets will be well cared for, your plants watered, newspapers and mail will be picked up, neighbors will be watching your home and the police will be doing several drive-bys day and night while you are gone. You are covered!! 🙂

I trust by now, your bags are packed, and you have your passports. You will need a Visa for Australia. Are you are ready to take a lot of pictures and do stuff and share stuff to send back to everyone else that are NOT going! 🙂

For our current time here in New York or where you live and for Japan & Australia, ‘Google’ or search:

What time is it in New York
What time is (Where You are)
What time is it in Kyoto, Japan
What time is it in Sydney, Australia
or see: http://i-imagine.biz/News.htm
 
(clicking on the link above will open a new tab on your browser.
Just close that page when you are finished there or use your back button to return to this page)
 

Please confirm your attendance, in advance…that would be with an, RSVP. 

There are some transportation issues, but do not be concerned. We hope you like alternative modes of travel? Do not worry, we’ll pick you up. Will a Limousine Be Ok?

Is a white stretch OK?
Is a white stretch OK?

We’ll pick you up at your home and drive you to your nearest airport.

Not enough space? Too bright?
Not enough space, there’s more! Too bright; too loud?
We have sleep masks and noise canceling headphones!

Don’t like flying commercial? Don’t like long lines? Don’t like crowded spaces? We understand, but we can only do, the best that we can do. Once you arrive at the airport, please accept our sincerest apology. We’re sorry, but a private plane is the best that we could come up with.

Sorry about the size!
Sorry about the size!
Travel4
Plane accommodations. Will these be OK?

Relax, chill, chill-lax, have a drink or two or a few. Not to worry, you don’t have to drive (fly the plane). And there is a full professional medical staff on-board to revive you, just in case you suffer from massive excitement or EXTREME HAPPINESS! 🙂 Take pictures of yourselves having a great time and post them instantly to all your social media sites and just imagine all your friends and family (all those by the way, that decided not to come with us) drooling! 🙂

Watch a movie. Read a book. Have some good conversation. But we also want to apologise for the space. You will not be crowded like on commercial flights! 🙂

Don’t have a thing to wear? Forget something? No problem. You can order whatever you need on the plane and it will be in your room, when we arrive!

Order what you need while snacking!
Order what you need while snacking or dining!

If you get tired from shopping or IF having too much of a good time just wears you out, no problem.

Travel6
You can fully stretch out and take a nap or…
...just enjoy the flight!
…just enjoy the flight!

So sit back, relax and enjoy yourself while we ‘Gather Together!’ The Gathering Place goes global and we’re off to…

Japan - "The Land of the Rising Sun" & Australia - "The Land Down Under"
Japan – “The Land of the Rising Sun” & Australia – “The Land Down Under”

 And don’t worry, we will get you home! 🙂

We'll get you home, by whatever means necessary.
We’ll get you home, by whatever means necessary.

“You are: the Writer, Artist, Conductor, Captain, Driver, Pilot, Chauffeur,

Travel Guide and Director of your own Dreams!”

—— Dahni

Note: Due to last minute packing and details, this will be the last post until we are on our way. Stay tuned here or our FaceBook page at: 
 

https://www.facebook.com/DonnieCHayden

On: All I’ve Got to Say

If you have not already sent in your RSVP, got your passport in order, have your Visa for Australia and you are not packed and ready to go to Japan and Australia, then all I’ve got to say to you is…

“You’re gonna’ miss me when I’m gone!” 🙂

On: Music at The Gathering Place

Like most everyone, here at The Gathering Place, we love music, many different kinds!

 

Celebrate!
Celebrate!

 

“Music is the universal language of mankind.”

― Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Musica
Musica

What follows are a collection of YouTube videos of some extraordinary musicians. Enjoy! 🙂

 

 Various instruments – by Pedro Eustache.

By the way, it is Pedro playing the duduk on Paul McCartney’s song ‘Jenny Wren’ in 2005. This was heard on this blog recently. You can hear it at: ‘Little Jenny Wren’  [scroll to the bottom of the post]

 

 Samvel Yervinyan -Violin

 

Victor Espinola, harp

You must hear the Victor’s last song!!!

Bogdan Alin Ota, composer and pianist

(was a copy machine deliverer by day and dreamed of composing and performing the rest of the time)

 ‘Locomotion’ (original composition) – Lawson Rollins, classical guitar

The Sound of Feelings
The Sound of Feelings

 

‘Guitar Boogie and Stevie’s Blues’ (original composition) – Tommy Emmanuel, blues guitar

 

‘Gratitude’ (original composition) – Amin Toofani, accoustic guitar

Need or want ‘music?’ Shop and get cash back for shopping for what you were going to purchase anyway AND, recommend others AND not only will they get the same deal as you, you will get paid for their purchases as well! Get what you want and need, save money, make money, help others AND PASS it ON! It’s the NEW trend, the NEW ‘WHAT’s HAPPENING NOW!! It’s truly a ‘No-Brainer!’

DahniAndSusansMall.com

On: Cutting Loose the Cable

by Donnie Hayden © 2014, all rights reserved

Cut It Loose!
Cut It Loose!
Coaxial Cable Connector
Coaxial Cable Connector

I’m sure by now, most of you have heard that Comcast Cable has put in an offer to buy Time Warner Cable for the paltry sum of, $45 billion dollars. This comes after Comcast is already the largest cable company in the United States and after it completed its purchase of television network and movie studio NBC Universal, just a few months ago. Geeze, I wonder if the courts will think it already a monopoly? I wonder if this is allowed to go through, what it will mean to all their perspective customers, but first, what will the new company be called?

CastWarn Cable?
CastWarn Cable?

Combining the NBC familiar peacock rainbow colors and the Time Warner logo and part of the name from the present two companies, will the merger make for the new name being, CastWarn Cable? 🙂

I don’t know what cable TV/Internet service provider you presently use, but ours is Time Warner. Our experience has for the most part, been great service.

Each time we have had a service technician come to our home, each have always gone beyond our expectations. Our Internet through Time Warner has been, Road Runner and the speed is lightening fast and rarely has there ever been an interruption of service (down-time) and when this has occurred, it has never been for long.

Just a quick glance at reviews online indicate that we may be only a few with little complaints about Time Warner service? Others say it is terrible and many more believe that Comcast is even worse. But we have severe issues with Time Warner and certainly wonder how much worse it will be, IF this merger between Comcast & Time Warner goes through?

Our issues with Time Warner are three-fold:

1. I believe their equipment – cable modem, DVR (digital video recorder) their tuner box and their remote control are all crap!
 
2. Their programming sucks (but still better than Dish satellite. Premium channels? Whoopeee, I could care less how many months they give it away for FREE, I don’t like them even at the price of FREE. Why? I don’t like their premium channels primarily because, they keep repeating the same programs and movies over and over and over and over AGAIN & AGAIN!!!
 
3. Price! Despite the fact that there are no contracts, the prices keep going UP and UP and UP and UP! And they don’t bother to tell you your FREE stuff is up, they just start charging you for it. Now if you collect your equipment and take it back to them, watch how fast they drop the price. Quite frankly, I resent that. Why don’t they give a good deal in the first place?

Yes, it’s time to cut the cable!

Cut the Cable!
Cut the Cable!

Oh NO! Nothing on the screen! What shall we do? How will we live? 🙂

Not to worry! But, YES, the bottom line is, we are looking to cut the cable loose and find some other options. We may have to keep Road Runner for Internet  or whatever it is called if Comcast acquires Time Warner. Maybe they will call it’ Road Eater’ because, Comcast already seems to gobble up everything in its path. But I am looking into other options for our Internet service. Well, that leaves TV. What are we going to do about TV?

This is all kind of exciting. I consider myself a New-O. I like a lot of the New technology and ‘stuff’,’ but I also like a lot of the O (old) ‘stuff’ that is tried and trued. Television was commercially available in the 1920’s, but it really took hold in the 1950’s. WOW, it really has not been around all that long when you think about it! It started out just black and white with round screens and the stations did not broadcast 24 hours a day; 7 days a week. Then, TV evolved to rectangular shapes and added color. Just a few short years ago it evolved again, with the introduction of HD (high definition). Broadcasters started to replace the old analog signals with the new digital signals. This whole explosion to me has been like the change from black and white TV to color AGAIN, in comparison! Now, we are pressing onward with HD 3D TV.

But again, after WWII, TV took hold in this country. It was a common sight to see family and friends gathering together around the television in the evening. TV trays were invented so we could eat and not miss our favorite show. Also common were antennas mounted on our rooftops and even the set-top familiar Rabbit-Ears appeared, to tune in our distant broadcast programs. Well, today, there is the exciting combination of the new technology with the old.

New-O
New-O

Like in the picture above, it combines black and white (the old) with the new, by way of the colored, flat-screen, HDTV.  But what you do not see in the picture is how the TV gets its signal. Most TV’s now are made with either an internal HD antenna or the ability to receive these signals along with the ‘old’ UHF and VHF signals. More and more stations are broadcasting in digital signals. Soon, analog signals will disappear, new cameras will be used and more and more programs will begin to be broadcast in 3D. So, we return to the past for an old solution, sort of.

If your new wide screen, flat panel, HD or HD 3D TV does not have an internal antenna, the following are just some examples of other options.

Antennas
Antennas

The first one might look familiar? It should because, it is like the common-sighted antenna, roof mounted, just like in the past. The second one shown does nearly the same thing, only it is designed for the interior or the inside of your home or business. The third one looks like a modem or a router. It is about the same size as one of those devices, but it is an antenna for the TV. And some even come in several colors. There are a whole bunch of choices, styles, sizes and etc. for HD antennas. There is a downside and an upside to these, however.

On the down-side, these antennas are designed to pickup signals on average, from around 25-70 miles away from the source at the broadcast towers. This means, you will only be able to pick up your local channels. If this is all you want, then this is not a problem. But which device is the best for you will depend on several variables.

a. What channels will you receive? Of those, will that be OK for you?
 
b. How far are you from the broadcast towers
 
c. What is the strength of those signals
 
d. Your TV
 
e. Your location – do you live on a hill, are there trees all around you, are you in a hollow and perhaps, there are many other factors which could affect the quality of the signal.

The best advice for solving the problems above is, find a professional installer of the equipment in YOUR AREA! Their experience of similar situations of local installations, may prove out to recommend the best antenna for you and your location. The other piece of advice is simply, just trial and error. You keep trying until you get the best outcome for your particular needs and situation.

Obviously, the upside to HD antennas is the cost. Instead of paying monthly bills which amount to 100’s if not thousands of dollar each year, what you see with an HD antenna is, what you get. And what you get is FREE. Yes, FREE TV! No fees and there is nothing to fear as it is all perfectly legal! The broadcasters own the equipment and the towers it is connected to, but they DON’T OWN the air (airwaves) those signals are sent through to you! Cable TV own the cable lines that come to your house and perhaps the equipment in your house that gets it to your TV, but they are charging us for programming and the equipment, because they don’t own the air (airwaves) either! And the the same goes for Dish Network or Direct TV. They may have paid for the satellite orbiting in space (but chances are that WE the People, ALREADY PAID for that. After you have paid for your antenna and perhaps for the installation, all the channels that you receive are all FREE!

If you want anything more than just local channels, there is the possibility of accessing movies and other content through your TV and/or your computer. To do this, you still need to have Internet service and as fast as is available, a cable modem and a router to network your devices and fast processing speeds among all your devices. Cable modem? But I thought this was about cutting the cable?

Technically, we are not actually endeavoring to cut the actual cable (coaxial cable), but sever the out-go of our money to the cable TV service provider. For example, we WERE paying Time Warner $5 per month to RENT their combination modem/router in addition to their high fees monthly for programming. Now five bucks a month may not seem like much, but it adds up. And remember I said previously that in our opinion, Time Warner’s equipment is “crap?” Well their modem/router had a lousy signal, even though we had the fastest Internet speed available from them and in our area. The signal comes into the house through the modem/router and then it goes out to our TV and other devices. It was slow! The TV picture (screen) often seemed to jumped or freeze momentarily, many, many times. So we replaced their modem/router with our own separate modem and router and when their equipment is returned, we will no longer have to rent it for $5 per month for as long as we stay with them. And until we settle on a more permanent solution for a HD antenna and an alternative for internet service this is what we are going to do –

I’m taking back Time Warner’s modem/router, down-grading to basic cable light (just local channels) for around $13 per month and getting rid of their DVR and save another $15 per month or so. All in all, these changes will save us 100’s if not thousands of dollars per year!

Not to worry! When you are here at The Gathering Place, we will have plenty of content, signal and speed for you to enjoy, however it works out!

Unplug or cut the connection between your bank account and Cable or Satellite TV today! It’s your money!

If you need a new TV, HD antenna or other home entertainment ‘stuff,’ click or scan the QR code in the far right lower corner of this page or see:

Dahni&SusansMall.com

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