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.
Apr 7, 2011 - Earthsea CD Japan OST Cover.jpg. Original title, ゲド戦記サウンドトラック (Gedo Senki Saundotorakku). Composer, Tamiya Terashima.
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.
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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 Earthsea, The Farthest Shore, and Tehanu, by Ursula K. The singer is Aoi Teshima (手嶌葵 Teshima Aoi, born June 21, 1987 in Hakata, Fukuoka, Japan.
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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).