A grand piano recovered from the muck of tsunami-stricken Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, will be played by singer Kumiko in Hiroshima on Aug. 6, the 67th anniversary of the city's atomic bombing.
A grand piano recovered from the muck of tsunami-stricken Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, will be played by singer Kumiko in Hiroshima on Aug. 6, the 67th anniversary of the city's atomic bombing.
Kumiko, who was in Ishinomaki for a concert when the tsunami hit on March 11 last year, said the instrument, which was damaged by mud and seawater but restored by volunteers, had helped her return to singing after witnessing the disaster.
Kumiko is known for singing “Inori” (Prayer), a song inspired by a bronze statue of a girl at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park who holds a large paper crane up to the sky.
In February this year, she sang a new song “Kitto tsunagaru” (We are not alone) with 200 citizens in a concert at Ishinomaki. A CD was released in April.
“What can I do to help people as a person who happens to have connections to the two cities?” Kumiko asked. “I believe the world can be saved only by giving thought to other people.”
She will sing at a festival, which marks the start of the boating season, in Ishinomaki on Aug. 1 and plans to ask the festival participants to make paper cranes so she can deliver them to Hiroshima on Aug. 6.