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2008年08月09日
The Church in Japan: The Gospel According to Bluegrass
Reiko and I were able once again to attend the annual Takarazuka Bluegrass Festival. This is a four day day festival held in the mountains of Hyogo Prefecture and features non-stop bluegrass music from early morning on into the wee hours of the next day. What is interesting is that a majority of the music is basic Gospel music. Typical themes are sin, salvation, Heaven, prayer, Jesus, and church.Every other song or so is of this type. Most of the songs are sung in English and so it is possible to be blessed by a whole lot of Gospel music in a short time. Of course the question that a Christian asks is, "Are the singers Christians?". And the answer is no. However, it is significant that hundreds of people have decided that it is better to spend their time singing about Jesus than it is to sing rock or folk or popular songs. They have found something in this music that touches their hearts.
However, usually there are at least two musicians at the festiva who are born again Christains. They are the Singer/Songwriter Morishige San and the banjo player Inaida San. Morishige San writes original songs in Japanese and is a real "messenger" of the gospel of Jesus. Christ. His songs always really speak to the people and leave them something to think about. Plus, on Sunday morning, the festival allows him to be in charge of what they call Gospel Time. It is not exactly church but it does mean that on Sunday morning there is a spot of time set aside to sing praises to Jesus.
Inaida San sings and plays traditional bluegrass music. However, he has a great burden that the message of the songs gets out and so he translates traditional bluegrass gospel music into Japanese and presents these songs at the festival. There are a lot of wonderful songs that most people at the festival know but do not understand the words or the message. It is these songs that Iaida San translates so that people know not only the tunes but also the message of the songs.
My favorite song to hear this year was "Are you Washed in the Blood of the Lamb?" This song was sung with deep feeling-my prayer is that the singers will in time go beyond the feeling to touch the message of this great old song. May the message get out!
投稿者 bethany : 2008年08月09日 14:29
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