Listening to 'Nada Soso' brings back the scenery of Okinawa — along with memories from 25 years ago

This summer, I will be performing 'Nada Soso' at a concert.

When it was decided, I felt very happy.

Listening to it over and over again, I think, 'It really is a wonderful song after all.'

The gently flowing melody.
A somewhat nostalgic and warm atmosphere.
And the lyrics that quietly enter the heart.

When I listen to it, I get a strange feeling as if my heart is being cleansed.

I heard that 'soso' in 'Nada Soso' is an Okinawan expression meaning 'tears falling drop by drop'.

Even just the title has a beautiful ring to it, doesn't it?

This song was written by Ryoko Moriyama and composed by BEGIN.

And this song has a very deep background.

It is said that the origin of these lyrics lies in the feelings Ryoko Moriyama had for her brother, who passed away when she was young.

Reading the lyrics, you realize that it is not just singing about sadness.

'I want to see you'

'I want to say thank you'

'It's not that I've forgotten'

'You are still in my heart'

Such feelings flow quietly through it.

Perhaps that is why.

Even though this song is about a specific person, I feel that everyone who listens to it projects their own important someone onto it.

It might be a family member who has passed away.

It might be an old friend.

It might be someone you parted ways with.

Or perhaps it is 'the person you were back then' to whom you can never return.

And for me personally, this song also overlaps with scenery of my own.

About 25 years ago, I often traveled to Okinawa for work.

The feeling of the air the moment I stepped out of the airport.

The blue sky stretching out endlessly.

The slow passage of time.

The gentle people.

I felt as though time flowed a little differently there than it did on the mainland.

In the midst of my busy daily life, when I went to Okinawa, I had the sensation that the whole town was speaking to me, saying, 'Isn't it okay not to rush so much?'

And even now, when I listen to 'Nada Soso,' the scenery from that time suddenly comes to mind.

The faces of the people I met.

The atmosphere of the town.

The scent of the wind.

Even my own feelings from back then.

Music is a mysterious thing.

It doesn't just enter through the ears; it brings along the scenery, scents, and emotions of that era as well.

Even though it is a story of only a few minutes, it leaps across time.

I feel that 'Nada Soso' has that kind of power.

At this summer's concert, I hope to perform not just by playing the notes, but while recalling the scenery of Okinawa from those days myself.

And I hope that for those listening, it becomes a time when their own 'scenery of memories' comes to mind.

Surely, in everyone's heart, there must be people or places they cannot meet now but have not forgotten.

'Nada Soso' might just be a song that gently calls back such precious memories.