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Charity concert in Hiroshima on August 11-12 to convey message of nuclear abolition

by Kohei Okata, Staff Writer

To commemorate the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombing, a charity concert to convey the wish for the abolition of nuclear weapons, through art, will be held at the International Conference Center Hiroshima on August 11 and 12. About 100 professional and amateur groups, in the fields of music, dance, and kagura (a traditional form of theatrical dance), are expected to appear on stage over a total of 24 hours during these two days. The concert will be simultaneously streamed online. The event is being planned by an executive committee of citizen volunteers, chaired by Tadatoshi Akiba, the former mayor of Hiroshima. Starting on March 4, the committee began recruiting performers and volunteer workers.

The concert will take place from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on both days, with the first day designated “Hiroshima Day” and the second day “Nagasaki Day.” Under the theme of peace, artists like Shokichi Kina, a singer, and Emi Norimatsu, a soprano singer based in Hiroshima, will perform and atomic bomb survivors will speak. Berlin University, in Germany, is set to hold a public viewing of the concert, and the committee is seeking other sites for public viewings in the United States and Italy.

Performers and citizen volunteers will lend their support for the preparations of the event, while the committee will pursue a fundraising campaign to cover the costs of staging the concert. Further details will appear on the website for the event. Admission to the concert is 2,000 yen for one day and 3,000 yen for both days, with half-price tickets for youth under the age of 18. The proceeds from the event will be donated to such facilities as nursing homes for A-bomb survivors.

Mr. Akiba held a press conference at the Hiroshima City Office on March 4 and said with conviction, “We would like to convey a strong message of peace to the world through the efforts of citizens.”

To inquire about performing in the concert, please contact Kazuhiro Uemura at 090-8602-1043.

(Originally published on March 5, 2015)

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