A Susumu Hirasawa's fan blog. Unofficial translation of song lyrics, twitter and other materials. Feel free to link to these translations or repost with proper credit. But please don't claim them as your own. If you have any questions, contact me at twitter @lucy1205.
(This program was streamed live on Youtube on April 27, 2019)
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(Page 1/2)
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(Translation in English)
[00:00-0100]
No movie: The photo with the title "Susumu Hirasawa's Back Space Pass on the additional concert of Kai=Kai/平沢進のBack Space Pass Live回＝回追加公演編" is shown.
[01:00-01:58]
《The movie of two White Ejin walking in a botanical garden hand in hand.
[01:59-03:46]
Eh, good evening. Can you hear me? We always have some unexpected trouble in this streaming. But let me start Susumu Hirasawa’s Back Space Pass.
This program is titled “Back Space Pass on The Additional Live Show of ‘Kai=Kai’ [in Toyosu Tokyo on January 14, 2019]”, so I wanted to talk about some anecdotes during the concert. But actualy there were few such interesting anecdotes. I was wondering what to talk about, then I thought I would talk about this. Let me remember. The concerts “Kai=Kai” started in [September] 2018, followed by the scheduled last concert later [November] in the same year, and there was an additional show in [January] 2019 after the new year’s day. The year 2019 started with the additional concert falls on to the “tenth year” in “Hirasawa’s Golden Ten-Year Cycle” that I have been talking about a lot since a few months ago. The Ejin, who worked with me in “Kai=Kai” concerts during 2018 and 2019, celebrating the new year together with me, would be the important key to something during the early years of this 10-year-cylce. I will talk about that as well as other topics tonight.
[03:46-04:37]
By the way, I didn’t receive any questions from you this time. The reason why I didn’t was that some people would ask questions in terms of “I will ask some questions for Hirasawa anyway because he wants us to, though I don’t really have any important ones” and ”I’ll ask questions because I want him to read mine on the live streaming” and ”I want to contribute to Hirasawa by asking questions so he will have a successful streaming event” and so on, which are “boring questions”, if I put it simply. And it takes a lot of annoying time to find a few interesting questions among the large number of such boring ones, so I didn’t receive questions beforehand this time.
[4:37-05:01]
However, if I have a lot of time left after talking about all the topics I prepared, I will receive questions at that time during this show. In that case, please ask your questions on twitter with the hashtag, #平沢進のBSP [#hirasawasusumunoBSP] as I announced on twitter earlier today. Then, I will go there and pick up some of your questions.
[05:01- 06:10 ]
Now, I am not watching the live streaming monitor right now, but do you sea the streaming okay? (Looking at the twitter timeline) Wow, what a fast moving timeline this is! Is everything “Okay”? Last time on the live streaming, my voice was heard only on one of the two speaker channels. Can you hear on both of the speakers this time? Eh, I cannot tell from the twitter because it’s flowing too fast. Is it okay? Is the volume okay? A while ago, we did a test streaming privately, but everybody saw it somehow. I see the word “Private streaming” on the screen in front of me now, but your ate watching the show. Anyway, though we are having these small problems unsolved, let me continue the show as it is.
[06:10-07:06]
First of all, I want to talk about “The Golden 10-Year Cycle”. The additional concert of “Kai=Kai” [held in January, 2019] was the first live show event in 2019 which is the first year of the 10-year cycle, regarding the years with the number 9 always brought me, Hirasawa, a change in the directions in the music career, a path to a new genre, and so on, for sure. I think the Ejin’s encounter with me as well as their active participation in the concerts was the trigger to start the new 10-year cycle.
[07:06-08:08]
Let me look back in my career history. I want to explain how each 10-year cycle occurred. First, 1979, which was the year P-MODEL made a debut. In this year, P-MODEL could make a debut because of a strange opportunity. Before having the band, P-MODEL, I had a band called Mandrake. My band members and I made demo tapes and gave them out to a lot of people, as well as performing at gigs, to release a record by Mandrake. However, no record labels gave their attention to us. Later, a record label offered to release a record of Mandrake at last, but it was in 1979 when we had already decided to quit Mandrake.
[08:08-09:38]
I thought P-MODEL would have a hard time finding a record label who would release a record for us, considering that we had ended up finding no record label to release Mandrake’s record previously. At that time, I had to have my guitar amplifier fixed [at a music instrument shop]. When it was fixed, I went to the shop to pick it up, to find a man sitting on my guitar amplifier. I told him, in a little unpleasant tone, “Excuse me, but that’s my guitar amplifier”, and I found that the man was from a record publishing industry in fact. He said to me, “Oh, you are a member in Mandrake, right?”
Then, I gave him my P-MODEL’s demo tape, and after that, P-MODEL signed a contract to release a record by rapid strides. This incident proved that something unexpected leads to a drastic change in my life, rather than a thing planned. And that is the characteristics of the beginning of a 10-year cycle. So, what happened in 1979 started from an unknown man who was sitting on my guitar amplifier.
[09:38 -11:05]
After ten years from that, in 1989, I made a debut as a solo musician. In this year, in addition to the trigger to the event of change to happen unexpectedly, there was a rearrangement of personnel that happened naturally. Some band members and staff who had worked with me had to leave me with unavoidable reasons. They had no bad feelings against me or anything, but they left me, agreeing that they and I would be better off taking different paths of careers at that point. So, a lot of people left, and when I was wondering what to do, a lot of new people joined me. Like that, I got to know a person to help me make a debut as a solo musician in 1989. After that, I started my career as a solo musician.
[Translator’s notes: P-MODEL “froze” the band in December, 1988, with Teruo Nakano and Sadatoshi Tainaka leaving the band, until it was defrosted《resumed》in 1991 with two new members, Akiyama Katsuhiko(as an old member who came back) and Yasuchika Fujii.]
[11:05 -12:18]
Ten years later, in 1999. I started releasing music in MP-3 on the internet. At that time, there was no musicians who would release their music in MP-3 as big businesses in Japan, as I recall. No music magazines wrote about this new means of selling music at all. And I held a press conference to announce that I would start selling music in MP-3 on the internet, but no writers from music magazines attended. All the attendees were from computer magazines. So, I announced that I would start selling music in MP-3 and that I had quit the major record label I had belonged to. Right before 1999, I left the record label, which was, in a way, a big reduction of personnel, and I established Chaos Union, my own record label, to prepare for releasing music in MP-3 in 1999.
[12:18 -13:20]
Ten years later than that, in 2009, which is closer to the present, I started twittering in twitter. Before starting twittering, I came up with the idea that I write three-line log every day on my web site on what I was thinking and about my daily activity, which was called “Hirasawa 3(san)-gyo log/Hirasawa’s 3-line log”. While doing that, I found twitter was becoming popular in the world. And I thought, “Oh, well. It is the same idea as my three-line log.” And I started twittering.
[13:20 -15:07]
However, I found twitter could be participated by a lot more people than a blog like “Hirasawa’s 3-line log” which I had been writing. An obscure person could post some words toward the world in twitter, which was like disclosing one’s diary to the public. I didn’t know what to do in such a world of twitter at first, but a staff at that time advised me, “Why don’t you try it even if you don’t know the merit of it at first.” So, I started twittering, and I have established my present style of twittering. My participation in twittering drastically increased the number of my supporters until it reached the present number. First, I thought I had done more than a wonderful job when I had more than 2000 followers in twitter. I also thought it was something that shouldn't have happened to me. But the number of my followers kept increasing. And I thought, “Are you kidding?“ “I am not a person like that. I am not a type of artist who would be liked by everybody in the world. And I wouldn't be pleased if a lot of people who have different tastes from me praised me.“ So, I tried to decrease the number of my followers several times, which all ended up in failures. And it has reached the present number [Notes: The number of Susumu Hirasawa's twitter followers is more than 140,000 in April, 2019. ].
【2019: Working with Ejin and Planning to Perform in Fuji Rock】
[15:07 -16:25]
Now, 10 years later than that, I have reached 2019. This is the year I had the new year’s day with Ejin. Ejin worked with me through 2018 and the beginning of 2019. During this time, I had another rearrangement of personnel in fact. Some staff, including the one who had worked with me for many years, left [Chaos Union] because we had come to the conclusion that they would be better off leaving the company and it would be the same for me. So, I had several different staff in the Kai=Kai concert in January, 2019 from that in the Kai=Kai concerts held in 2018. But Ejin stayed with me and worked with me through all the Kai=Kai concerts through 2018 and 2019. It made me think Ejin were someone who bring something nice to me.
[16:25-17:47]
One day, I found that Ejin were interested in performing at rock festivals when I was talking with them on various subjects. They mentioned it, but I showed a languid gesture and said, “Oh, are you interested in rock festivals?” Later, I thought about it well. Ejin, who were the existence that bring something nice to me, worked with me through 2018 and 2019, and they were now interested in rock festivals. So, I thought, “Maybe I should use this chance and enjoy it” because an event unexpectedly happened often brought a far more drastic change in my musical career than things I planned during every chapter of “Golden 10-Year Cycle”. So, I secretly thought of a plan to send Ejin to Fuji Rock Festival and have them perform there. At first, I wasn’t thinking about performing there myself.
[17:47 -20:19]
In order to send Ejin to Fuji Rock Festival…Ah, just a minute. Ah, it was okay. I saw a strange message suddenly… So, I started to promote Ejin in order to send them to Fuji Rock Festival by writing their profiles and so on. However, they were completely nameless in the music industry except among my fans. So, I composed a few songs for them so that they can say they work with Susumu Hirasawa. And surprisingly, I found one day that I was scheduled to perform at Fuji Rock Festival with them after all. And I thought what Ejin brought to me was interesting. Normally, I would say, “I planned it for Ejin, not for myself. Maybe I would perform with them as a guest musician. That’s all”, but I thought, ”Let me use this opportunity and enjoy this event fully, being immersed in it” this time. After all, I, Hirasawa, am going to perform at Fuji Rock Festival with Ejin.
[Translator’s notes: Susumu Hirasawa and Ejin will perform on July 28, Sunday, at Fuji Rock Festival at Naeba Skii Resort in Niigata Prefecture.]
(The speaking voice from some recording was heard in a very small volume.) What? Just a minute. Something strange is played on its own. Excuse me. The sound from the test streaming earlier today came back somehow. Why is it happening? It’s very annoying. Well, let me continue, paying no attention to it. Eh, what was I talking about? Wait a minute. I can’t continue. Eh, let me stop it. I’ll erase everything on it. If I terminate everything in the recording, would anything bad happen? Did it work? Eh, it works. Eh, what was I talking about? I was talking about that I am going to perform at Fuji Rock Festival, and I and Ejin are preparing for it day by day.
[ 20:19 -21:06]
And about Fuji Rock Festival. I’m sure many of you are still wondering if you are attending the event or not because it is far away [from Tokyo and Osaka where my concerts are held normally] and the ticket is more expensive. What I can disclose to the maximum degree possible right now is that we are going to play Hirasawa solo songs mainly as well as some songs I composed for Ejin, all of which will be played in a new arrangement, that will be only played in the style when they are credited as “by Hirasawa and Ejin”. I am now working on it.
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[ 21:06 -23:01]
Talking about rock festivals, rock festivals have a lot of audience who are like “Don't argue about small things. Let's just enjoy the event and have a good time!“ And I will go there to have a good time anyway, and I was wondering about how to present the most enjoyable and dinamic live show. Then, Ejin advised me that I should have a Han-Ejin[反会人/Anti-Ejin] to perform with us to have a more diamic live show. They explain that there is someone called Han-Ejin[反会人/Anti-Ejin], who is the existence having an opposite characteristics to Ejin.
So, I am looking for the Han-Ejin right now. Among the various things to prepare, one task for me is to find and catch the Han-Ejin, and to persuade him to work with us.
I contacted him once, but I didn't see the deciding factor. I am now preparing many things so he would agree to join us before I see him again. If I realize Han-Ejin's participation in our live show at Fuji Rock, we will be able to have a powerful and wonderful stage everybody would enjoy. I think we can carry out this plan with a high possibility.
[ 23:01 -25:46]
Talking about Ejin, they are the key existence to the possible change I am going to have in “The Golden 10-Year Cycle“. In the latest Memorial Package Card sold at the additional concert [in Toyosu, Tokyo], you know, a memorial package card is sold at every recent live show with a downloadable contents like music, photos and movie, there is a movie in it, which showed a story that I went on a trip to look for Ejin. In the movie from the previous Memorial Package Card from the live show in November, 2018, I explained that Ejin don't exist in reality, but they are the reflection of the image in my unconciousness. In the latest Memorial Package Card movie, I went to Kashi-kai[可視海], Visible Sea, kashi as in kashi-kousen[visible ray], where Ejin in my unconciousness are materialized, to see them to know what kind of future I would have. At that time, Ejin had materialized fugures in reality.
On the other hand, I would have to go down to Han-Ejin's[Anti-Ejin's] world in order to find him and ask him to work with me and Ejin. I know that I can contact Han-Ejin only by meditation.
Now, I am going to show you the movie from the latest Memorial Package Card here... Wait a minute. I completely forgot to get this movie ready. Just a moment. Eh. This is it. Now, let me show you the scene in the video that I go to Kashi-kai, Visible Sea, to see Ejin.
[25:46-26:27]
〖A part of the movie from the Memorial Package Card from the additional concert of Kai=Kai at Toyosu, Tokyo, in January, 2019.〗
The Immortal Man: “Everything in your unconciousness is visualized and materialized in reality at Kashi-kai, Visible Sea. You can reach Visible Sea by going through the very long Kai[回] corridor[回廊/kairou]. It will lead you to the beach facing the Visible Sea.“
Hirasawa: “I walked through the very long Kai corridor, and I reached the beach of Visible Sea at last. Here come Ejin.“
[26:27-27:41]
As you see, the beach where Ejin appeared was a beach in reality. Next, what I am going to tell you is a cock and bull story in which I will go down to my unconcious mind to look for Anti-Ejin to have a new development with Ejin. It's a cock and bull story, everybody. I am made up with cock and bull stories. Please don't misunderstand me.
I have made a movie that shows the scenes Ejin appear and they go to Visible Sea, a part of it was played at the biginnung of tonight's show. We made an effort to shoot the movie on location, so, I made it into this short movie. Now here is the movie. What? See? Like this...Oh?
[27:41-30:33]
〖The movie of Ejin at the Beach of Visible Sea〗
[30:33-30:58]
I hope you liked it. I really look forward to seeing how the present “Ten-Year Cycle“ that has just started would develop working with Ejin.
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Summary in English of Susumu Hirasawa's Back Space Pass on the additional concert at Toyosu Tokyo, Jan 2019
(This program was streamed live on Youtube on April 27, 2019)
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《Summary in English》
【Preamble】【How to ask questions】
《The movie of two White Ejin walking in a botanical garden hand in hand.
Hirasawa explained the topics of the streaming program:
・Hirasawa’s Golden 10-year Cycle
・About Ejin
・Questions may be asked if there is time later in the program
【The Golden 10-year Cycle】
The years with the number 9 always brought Hirasawa a change in the directions in his music career, a path to a new genre for sure, and the first such year started in 1979.
【1979】
P-MODEL made a debut. It happened accidentally when Hirasawa met an important personnel from a record company who was sitting on his guitar amplifier being fixed at a music shop by chance.
【1989】
There was a rearrangement of personnel. Some staff and band members left. Hirasawa made a debut as a solo musician, which was realized by meeting another important person.
【1999】
There was a rearrangement of personnel in a way, which was leaving the major record label and establishing Hirasawa’s own label, Chaos Union. Hirasawa started releasing music in MP-3 on the internet, which had been done by no musicians in Japan.
【2009】
Hirasawa started twittering. His followers have increased drastically since then. Now he has more than 140,000 twitter followers in April, 2019.
【2019: Working with Ejin and Planning to Perform in Fuji Rock】
There was another rearrangement of personnel. Hirasawa worked with Ejin through 2018 and the early 2019. Ejin wanted to perform at Fuji Rock Festival and Hirasawa agreed to join them. They will play Hirasawa solo songs as well as new songs for Ejin in new arrangement especially prepared for the occasion.
In addition to Hirasawa and Ejin, a musician called Han-Ejin[Anti-Ejin] may join Fuji Rock Festval performance, which has been suggested by Ejin.
Ejin don’t exist in reality, but they exist in one’s unconscious level of mind. Hirasawa went to Kashi-kai[Visible Sea], where everything in one’s mind is visualized, to see Ejin, as it was explained in the movie from Memorial Package Card sold at the additional concert of Kai=Kai at Toyosu, Tokyo, in January, 2019.
〖A part of the movie from the Memorial Package Card from the additional concert of Kai=Kai at Toyosu, Tokyo〗
Hirasawa will work with Ejin in the early years of the next 10 years and he looks forward to it.
【What Kai=Kai(回=回) Means】
The concept of Kai=Kai(回=回) started from its visual image. It consists with Chinese characters, 回. It is also a mathematical formula. 回(kai) means an individual that rotates itself interacting with outer surroundings and exists. It can be considered as a person. The formula Kai=Kai(回=回) means that the first kai(回) went through some kind of processing, and you have the same Kai(回) on the right as a result. This is a situation in which something/someone exists normally.
However, there are situations that are explained as Kai=False Kai(回=偽回). That happens when something inappropriate interferes with the normal processing of Kai(回), and you get a False Kai(偽回). Actually, it is happening a lot in our world every day. A lot of people spend their lives being false Kai, without asking questions because it is easier for them.
Kai=Kai(回=回) also represents the imaginary marks on your cheeks when you are slapped on them by yourselves to be reminded that you are not living as normal Kai=Kai(回=回).
So it has a very important meaning, and that’s why I made the LED monitor especially made into 回＝回 shape installed on the stage this time, spending a lot of expense on it.
【Questions and Answers】
・What is the most interesting book among the books you recently read?
→I cannot remember one instantly, one of the reasons why is I haven’t got strong impressions from books since I started reading digital books.
・what is your favorite food?
→I like a kind of vegan cheese in cherry blossom flavor.
・How long have you used the eye-glass you are wearing tonight?
→I made this pair about a year ago, because I had to have a new pair suited for my present eyesight.
・Will we be able to see the movie you recorded on the Gopro camera installed on a stick which you were swinging around on the stage at Toyosu?
→Yes, it will be included in the DVD of Kai=Kai concerts.
・A P-shape light was lit on the stage. Did it have any meaning?
→No, it didn’t have any meaning.
・What did you think about the comments and the actions by the Horse Bones and Non-Horse Bones after you announced that you would perform at Fuji Rock?
→In the past, rock festivals were held for special purposes, such as to unite people, to promote a special message, sometimes political, and so on. But at present rock festivals just mean fun outdoor party-like events in which everybody can enjoy as well as camping at the venue. And I am not interested in what people think and feel about my performance there.
・What happened to your guitar album that you were going to release this year?
→I will work on it as soon as Fuji Rock is over. I hope to complete it within 2019. Also, there will be other event after that, which I cannot disclose right now, one of which would surprise you a lot.
・Do you think humans are as smart as animals? Can humans understand animals’ cleverness?
→I don’t think humans are smarter than animals. Humans can calculate, comment, judge, predict, and so on. On the other hand, animals know what to eat and what to do when they are sick. Also they can tell what is edible or not.
・What are you going to do during the 10-day vacation? [Notes: Japan has a continuous 10-day vacation starting from April 27 through May 6, 2019, because of the new emperor’s having a new throne on May 1, which is a special holiday this year.]
→I am working as usual.
・What do you think about the difference between the music composed by AI and the music composed by people?
→People can compose music by going against the rules of music composition on purpose, which AI cannot at present. But it is possible for AI to create good music, too.
【The Ending Greeting】
＊Japanese script:
http://hirasawaslyrics.edoblog.net/back%20space%20pass/%E5%B9%B3%E6%B2%A2%E9%80%B2%E3%81%AEbps%E8%BF%BD%E5%8A%A0%E8%AC%9B%E6%BC%94%E7%B7%A8%20%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E8%AA%9E%E6%9B%B8%E3%81%8D%E8%B5%B7%E3%81%93%E3%81%97
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