Have you heard the single "Earth's Breath" released on October 10th? This is a song by HACHI, a band based in Hakuba.Keita YamazakiThis is the latest song by. On the same day as the release, at the Movie festival "AREA UNITE" held in Hakuba,YONE FILMThe music video for the song, produced by was screened and later released on YouTube, where it attracted even more attention.
The lyrics of this song are full of various words related to nature, and you can feel that we snowboarders are playing in the natural cycle of water. This song is a full part of Keita Yamazaki's music video, which condenses his entire lifestyle as a snowboarder and musician.
I asked Keita about the thoughts he put into this song, so I'd like to introduce it to you.
"I wrote the lyrics, composed the music, sang, played the piano and drums, and played every part of this song myself. At first I wrote the lyrics while singing and playing the piano, and then I felt that reggae was a good fit for the tempo, so I added a band sound and made it more luxurious. The melody isn't the exact same, but I used the song "Wind Road" from My Neighbor Totoro as a motif.
The image of the lyrics was quite influenced by what I felt while surfing. I mean, even when I'm snowboarding, the flow is really the same as when I'm surfing... It's about the circulation of water... Like when the snow melts, the water flows into the river and returns to the sea. That whole flow of nature is really linked. I wanted to convey in the song that snowboarders and surfers feel great when they live their lives with that in mind.
I use the word "blood tide" in the lyrics, and when I dug deeper, I found that when vertebrates first came onto land from the sea, they trapped seawater inside their bodies. So I wonder if it's like the ocean tides are flowing inside our bodies as humans... Blood and tides are the same in a sense, and blood, body fluids, and amniotic fluid have the same salinity as seawater. The flow of water on Earth is all connected to seawater, rivers, and rain, and I wonder if that's also connected to the blood flowing through us humans. In the lyrics, I liken "rain" to "the tears of the Earth."
There's a part in the chorus that says "Time passes, and people change." I wanted to express that we've moved from the Age of Earth to the Age of Wind. I don't really understand what the Age of Wind actually is... but I think that if we understand and accept it, people's way of being will change. "The wind blows and dries the earth" is like the Age of Wind coming and stirring up the Age of Earth. And the words "rain falls and the earth hardens" and "tears" are all in the mix, and I wanted to convey that things will get better than ever. When I explain the lyrics in detail like this, there's a pretty deep meaning, and I wrote about what I'm feeling right now.
I came up with these lyrics, so I asked Yone from YONEFILM to listen to them. So we decided to make a music video for this song and screen it at AREA UNITE.
It's a music video, but I included my own riding and released it as a full part in the role of snowboarder Yamazaki Keita.
This song is available on Spotify and iTunes, so I hope you'll listen to it." - Keita Yamazaki
"Breathing of the Earth"
Picking up sleepless nights
Collected for three days
Gazing at the Moon
I'll go and greet the yet unseen tomorrow
Just wait for the morning sun
Earth's tears wet the morning leaves
A rain of blessings falls
The river eventually flows to the sea
Blood flow
Sunset over the mountains
The sun sets and the moon appears again.
I'll chase after yesterday's tomorrow
Continue heading for the sea
Following the signposts shown by the plants swaying in the wind
The waves eventually reach the shore and you can feel the breath of the stars
Time passes and people change
The wind blows and dries the soil
This planet sheds tears
Rain falls and the ground hardens
I forget to count the mornings when I can't wake up and look up at the sun
Yesterday's tomorrow will never come back
Time passes like that
Burn hemp leaves and learn the meaning of the smiles of the Earth
The snow soon falls on the mountains and the blood flows
The stars rotate and time mixes, the wind blows and confuses people.
I accept it without resisting and my spirit is lifted.
Time passes, people change, the wind blows and dries the earth
This planet sheds tears, rain falls, and the earth hardens
Lyrics/Composition/Singer
Keita Yamazaki
