English version of the Video “Hiroshima Peace Song” produced by organizations such as Hiroshima City
Nov. 10, 2023
Let's share the beautiful singing voices of multinational musicians with the World
by Ikumi Yorikane, Staff Writer
The executive committee of Hiroshima Festival (Hiroshima International Cultural Festival) formed by organizations such as Hiroshima City, has produced an English version of "Hiroshima Heiwa No Uta” that will always be sung at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony on August 6. The lyrics, newly translated into English and entitled "Hiroshima Peace Song," are sung by musicians from overseas. The city has made the video available on the video-sharing platform You Tube.
Utako Toyama, a musician living in the UK, translated the lyrics to the music into English and made a new arrangement. The video is approximately five minutes long. People from arts and cultural organizations in the suburbs of Hiroshima City carrying messages such as “Peace Forever” and “A World Without Nuclear Weapons” can be seen amidst the echoing of the beautiful singing voice of the musical group consisting of multinational musicians.
Prior to the first Peace Festival (1947), the former name of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony, the Peace Festival Association called for lyrics from the public, and Hiroshima Heiwa No Uta (Hiroshima Peace Song) was created. Since then, this song has been sung in a chorus at the end of the ceremony every summer. Ms. Toyama, who was given an award at the Hiroshima Festival last August for her appeal for peace through music, heard about this peace song from Hiroshima City. She has agreed to translate it into English free of charge, hoping it would spread throughout the world. The English version of the video was completed this September.
The Festival Committee Secretariat says, "We would like more people from inside and outside the country to listen to the song by releasing it at events and other occasions.”
(Originally published on November 10, 2023)
