Aomori's orchestra made up only of people involved in agriculture gathers 60 orchestra members from all over Tohoku
The regular concert of the Tohoku Farmers Orchestra will be held on February 25th at Aomori City Medieval Hall Hall (Namioka, Aomori City).
The band is made up of people involved in agriculture in the Tohoku region. Formed in 2013 (Heisei 25). It started when Katsuyuki Shiratori, a vegetable farmer from Aomori, appealed to the Tohoku area based on the activities of the Hokkaido Farmers Orchestra. They practice performances during the agricultural off-season near Hanamaki, Kenji Miyazawa's birthplace, and give concerts every winter in six prefectures in the Tohoku region. This is the second time the event has been held in Aomori since 2014.
The piece in this program, ``Chaconne,'' is a song that was often played in the atelier of Takeshi Tsuneta, a painter born in Namioka who continued to paint the daily scenes of farmers, and will be performed by dancer Yukiko Yuki. ``Autumn Whereabouts'' is a song performed for the first time by Nanae Nishizawa, a composer who lives in Aomori. The idea was taken from the ``Oyama Pilgrimage'' of Mt. Iwaki, where people pray for ``bountiful harvests.'' In addition, they will play songs that farmers may have heard on the radio.
To coincide with the event, there will be a special opening of the ``Ken Tsuneta Dozo's Atelier Museum'' (Namioka Kitanakano Shimoshimada), which closed in 2022. Opening hours are February 23rd-24th = 10:00-16:00, February 25th = 10:00-12:00, 15:00-17:00. free entrance.
Approximately 60 people from Tohoku will gather for this performance, and a corner will be set up at the venue for direct sales by the group members, who are farmers. Shiratori says, ``The venue is set in the suburbs rather than the city center.This time, it will be held in Namioka, where you can feel Tsuneta-san's work, and I hope it will not only be a performance, but also an opportunity to think about agriculture and producers.''
Doors open at 13:00, performance starts at 13:30. Advance ticket prices are 1,000 yen for adults, 500 yen for high school students, and free for junior high school students and younger. Tickets will be available at the Medieval Hall and Narita Main Store Shinmachi branch, and will also be on sale on the day of the event.
