Scooping up what is scattered in the air and writing it down into words

"Scooping up what is scattered in the air and writing it down into words is also the freedom of music."

Keisuke Kuwata of Southern All Stars said this in a newspaper article.

What an amazing expression. As a Southern fan, I would like to write about this expression today.

The moment the switch turns on

The beginning of a thought mode is triggered by some kind of external stimulus. When I am absent-minded, a sound, a word, or an emotion that suddenly enters my mind clicks the switch of my thoughts on. I cherish such moments.

The other day, what pressed that switch for me were the words of Keisuke Kuwata of Southern All Stars.

"Scooping up what is scattered in the air and writing it down into words"

I reacted instantly to this expression. That is exactly what I am aiming for on note.

What is scattered in the air?

The "things" scattered in the air are emotions, feelings of discomfort, or perhaps joy, irritation, or haziness that are invisible but certainly drifting about.

They are invisible, yet they are certainly drifting. The atmosphere of society, things I suddenly feel in my daily life, or things that catch my heart. They haven't become text yet, but I feel that they certainly "exist."

I scoop them up with the net of my own sensitivity, chew on them within myself, and write them down into words on note. That is exactly what I have been practicing on my note.

What does it mean to write down (shitatameru) words?

"Shitatameru" means to write something down carefully, with feeling, and in an orderly fashion. It includes a mindset and prepared thoughts, and it is a somewhat formal way of speaking. Writing a letter or writing down words of gratitude—it is a very elegant Japanese term, isn't it?

On the other hand, "writing" (kaku) is used in a broad sense of recording characters or creating sentences, referring to the daily act itself. Like writing a memo or writing an article. The work of digging up the small seeds of emotion within oneself, which cannot always be verbalized at once, and turning them into words over and over again, is better described as "shitatameru."

The act of writing on note is exactly that. It is like the work of gradually carving out feelings that are hard to express. Even though it seems directed at the reader, I think it is actually a dialogue with myself.

I think that the process of taking what was drifting in the air and turning it into my own personal "meaning" is what my note is all about.

How Kuwata-san puts lyrics to music

My encounter with Keisuke Kuwata's lyrics has also had a huge influence on me.

When I was in junior high school, I was surprised when I looked at the lyric sheet of a Southern All Stars LP record I bought. There were several songs where the lyrics weren't written down, just symbols like "☆◎♂ ☆◎♂ ☆◎♂".

In fact, in Kuwata-san's book『After all, it's just lyrics, isn't it?』 he also mentioned that he sometimes created the melody first and then just sort of added lyrics to it later.

In an interview on Osamu Hayashi's TV show, Kuwata-san laughed and said that the official lyrics for "Onna Yonde Boogie" still haven't been decided, and that he just fakes it at live shows by saying "Thank you everyone!"—an anecdote that made me laugh out loud.

However, I was deeply moved when Kuwata-san, now 69 years old, went on a nationwide tour with his new album and said, "I scoop up what is scattered in the air and write it down into words." His approach to words has become both softer and deeper. I was greatly inspired by that change.

Words of gratitude from 69-year-old Kuwata-san

For this "THANK YOU SO MUCH" tour, the setlist featured 12 songs from his 14-track new album, a structure that felt like a newcomer band. I am moved by his commitment to always doing something new rather than relying solely on big hits.

I attended the venues in Okinawa and Sapporo. Furthermore, I even attended the live viewing on the final day of the tour.

Since the Okinawa Arena show was before the album release, there were many songs I wasn't familiar with, making it a wonderful opportunity to listen seriously to music I was encountering for the first time right there.

It was also impressive that Kuwata-san introduced the title for every single song. Since he doesn't often introduce song titles at live shows, his sincerity toward the new songs really came through.

At the Sapporo Dome, since it was after the album release, I was moved to tears when he loudly thanked us, saying, "Thanks to you, we hit number one on the Oricon charts!" "It's all thanks to everyone!" "Thank you!" I had come to say "thank you" to the Southern members, but Kuwata-san gave me a "thank you" back twice over.

A place where free expression is possible

Well, Kuwata-san expresses that "scooping up what is scattered in the air and writing it down into words is also the freedom of music." I'm going to borrow that and say, "Scooping up what is scattered in the air, interpreting it in my own way, and writing it down into words is also the freedom of Mako-san's note."

It might not reach anyone, but these were emotions that definitely existed within me. I will continue to write down those thoughts into words today and in the future.

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