260620 India, and on down to Australia
From today's playlist 608
"India And On Down to Australia"
Laurie Anderson
Vocals: Anohni
Guitar: Marc Ribot
Percussion: Kenny Wollesen
Bass: Tony Scherr
Viola: Martha Mooke, Nadia Sirota
Violin: Rob Moose
Cello: Gabriel Cabezas
Orchestra: Brno Philharmonic
Conductor: Dennis Russell Davies
In this morning's Yomiuri Shimbun,the 2026 Kyoto Prizewas announced. I was surprised. The Arts and Philosophy category went toLaurie Anderson. It feels like a punk senior from the neighborhood who has always had spiky hair won the award, and I'm quite happy about it.
No, I'm not joking; it has as much impact asBrian Eno being selected for the Venice Golden Lion in 2023. About 40 years ago, giants of contemporary music like Messiaen, John Cage, and Xenakis were awarded in succession. The Kyoto Prize is a prestigious award recognized globally, much like the Nobel Prize.
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This piece was chosen from her latest work, "Amelia," released in 2024. It is an album based on the real-life American female aviator Amelia Earhart. It weaves the story of the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean through 22 tracks.
Earhart was raised by a mother who had to give up on university. From childhood, she was full of a spirit of adventure and was considered an "oddball" by those around her. She encountered airplanes while in college. When she was taken for a ride in a stunt plane, she felt strongly that she "had to learn to fly."
She began taking lessons the following month. She earned her license at 25, becoming the 16th female pilot in the world. When she was 29, Lindbergh succeeded in his solo non-stop transatlantic flight. The world was obsessed with adventure flying, and Amelia became a person in the eye of the storm. At 34, she became the first woman to successfully complete a solo transatlantic flight.
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After that, she achieved several more feats, and at 39, she finally attempted to fly around the world. She planned to circle the globe along the equator: America → Africa → India → Australia → America. However, her plane, which had taken off from Papua New Guinea, never arrived at its next destination, Howland Island in the Pacific Ocean.
The song describes the leg before that, the journey from India to Australia. It was the most difficult section. From Karachi to Kolkata, the scenery below looked like a large map spread out. Just when the headwind turned into a sandstorm, the sun would beat down. The weather in the sky changed rapidly.
When she reached Darwin after crossing the Indian Ocean, it had taken 11 days from Karachi. In Darwin, she unloaded her parachute from the plane. Perhaps it was to make the aircraft as light as possible. Finally, the Pacific Ocean spread out before her eyes. There was nowhere to make an emergency landing in the open ocean.
She took off from Lae airfield 89 years ago on July 2nd. However, her Lockheed 10E Electra has still not been found. Where is she flying now? Women who fly are not allowed to land. Not yet.
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Anderson has also been flying for a long time. She took off over 40 years ago singing "O Superman." Isn't the word "Superman" a symbol of inflated masculinity? I cannot help but feel she saw right through the arrogant "America" of today.
I am so glad they awarded the Kyoto Prize to someone like her. I want to congratulate her from the bottom of my heart.