Written by Barbara Conrady

Early in the morning on October 7th, my Japanese husband (boyfriend at the time) and I took the "Shinkansen" (bullet train) from Tokyo to Hiroshima, then boarded the ferry to reach Miyajima Island. The concert was organized by "Hiroshima Miyajima Art Meets Executive Committee" for the 50-year-memorial of the A-bomb and the 1400th anniversary of Itsukushima Shrine on Miyajima Island. Itsukushima Shrine is famous for being one of the most beautiful places in Japan. The shrine is located very close to the sea, so when the tide comes in, the water flows under the halls and corridors so that it looks as if the shrine was floating on the sea. The small stage in the shrine is usually used for performances of traditional Japanese dance and theatre, but this time it was used for Yoko's memorial concert. The members of Yoko's band IMA (which means "now" in Japanese) were Sean, Timo Ellis, and Sam Koppelman. In the shrine, there is room for about 300 or 400 people to sit. Except me, there were only very few foreigners in the audience. We sat on wooden boards with our shoes taken off.

As the sun went down and it grew dark, we waited for the concert to begin. It was incredibly silent. I didn't feel at all like I was waiting for the beginning of a concert, but rather of some kind of ceremonial event.

Yoko appeared in a purple kimono she wore like a jacket over her clothes. Sean and the other two musicians were dressed in black kimonos. The only instruments were acoustic guitars and percussion. Not only the words Yoko spoke to the audience, but also the songs were all in Japanese. It was very exciting to hear Yoko perform in her native language.

Instead of a greeting, Yoko started with a kind of prayer, chanting it in the way of the traditional Nô-theatre: "Let's wish that the souls of the victims of the atomic bomb rest in peace."

The fist song was "Senjou da", the Japanese version of "Warzone". The musical background was the same through all the songs: Acoustic guitars and percussion, which fitted harmoniously with Yoko's haunting singing.

"Kurushi" was the next song. In the booklet of the album "Rising", Yoko mentions that in the script of Ron Destro's play "Hiroshima", for which she wrote the song, there is a scene where a little girl tries to fold a thousand paper cranes to make a wish (it's an old Japanese custom to do that for somebody who's ill), but dies before she can finish folding them. Actually, this is based on a true story. There is a statue of the girl, whose name was Sadako, in front of the "Atomic Bomb Dome" in Hiroshima as a symbol for all the innocent victims. Around the statue, there are hundreds of colourful chains made of little paper cranes which people lay down there to remember the victims. In a soft voice, Yoko told the girl's story and then sang painfully, "It hurts! It hurts, Mommy!"

Next, Yoko performed "Will I?" in Japanese. ("Koishiku naru kashira?") As the concert went on, the tide came in, and the sound of the ocean waves was a beautiful background to Yoko's voice and the music. It was like a dream, a feeling as if we were in a different world.

The following is my favourite: "Oboete-iru yo (I remember everything)". If I remember correctly, this song was also written for the play "Hiroshima". Yoko sang, "I remember your eyes, your smile, your warmth… Mom, I remember you! Grandma, I remember you! Sis, I remember you!" While singing this, Yoko turned to each side of the audience and called, "I remember everyone! I will definitely never forget you!" This song was full of melody and harmony, and much more beautiful and touching than the version on "Blueprint For A Sunrise".

In the next piece, "Tachi-agarou yo (Rising)", Yoko used a very "male" way of speaking. The Japanese language is spoken differently by men and women: There are, for example, different words for "you" and "I" and different grammatical expressions. In "Rising", Yoko spoke in a way a Japanese woman normally would never speak. So it was immediately clear that Yoko put herself in the place of a man. Yoko's voice was very deep, the tone of her voice cynical-desperate-hurt. "We experienced hell on earth. We lost everything. We are stained with blood. Our bones lie beneath the new buildings, our blood is still flowing beneath the new highways." From time to time, Yoko let out an insane, crazy, perverse, bitter kind of laughter. I think especially this piece proved that Yoko is a magnificent actress, too.

After that, there was a short break, and Yoko said to us, "We'll be back in ten minutes," giving her Yoko-like shy little laugh.

In the second part of the concert, Yoko and the band wore "normal" clothes like jeans and jackets. They performed "Hiroshima Sky Is Always Blue", which is a rather long piece, the lyrics consisting only of this one line.

Finally, Yoko sang once more "Oboete-iru yo (I remember everything)". Then it was over. The audience loved the show very much, applauding and cheering enthusiastically. It was a very special, unforgettable event.