Uploaded December 2013 | Updated September 2026, 5 hours ago

---

Himenami (Japanese for "The Divine Wave") commissioned by the Tenjo Hanabi choir, Osaka, Japan, in memorial of the 2011 Japanese Tsunami. Text by Charles Anthony Silvestri (English), translated by Takako Helbig into Japanese. Premiere performance with the composer accompanying, Izumi Hall, Osaka, Japan, September 2013. (Video of this performance is available on YouTube). The piece blends aspects of Japanese folk music and Western music.

Published by Hinshaw Music, 2014. Distributed in Japan by PanaMusica.

Text (English), set in traditional Japanese tanka (5-7-5-7-7) structure:

Rose and indigo
Mingle as the rising sun
Heralds a new day.
All is silence—from pebble
To heart of ancient mountain.

Ocean waves whisper
Secrets to the silent shore,
Sand and foam embrace.
The sea has many secrets
Beneath her veil of Billows.

Without warning
The mountains tremble
And the sea rises up;
A wall of water
Sweeps away our future
In an instant.

All things fade away--
We are only wanderers
Upon this moment;
And yet we sing together,
In love against all shadow.