Hawaii Betsuin's annual MusicFest featured voices of all ages, traditional and contemporary songs (includes video)

This is the full MusicFest video. To go right to different sections, see the embedded videos at the bottom of this page or click “YouTube” after you start the video. On YouTube, the video description includes clickable timepoints. Video by Roy Yumori.

MusicFest 2019

Submitted by Wendie Yumori

On April 28, 2019, Hawaii Betsuin’s annual MusicFest was held in the social hall following an uplifting Eshinni/Kakushinni Day service conducted by Hawaii Betsuin’s Dharma School.

For the first performance of MusicFest 2019, the Dharma School Ohana and Choir members happily joined in singing Peace and Harmony, a wonderful gatha composed by Debbie Kubota, Dharma School teacher, and Cameron Kubota, leader of the Dharma School Ukulele Group. Led by Laura Nakasone and accompanied by Dharma School instrumentalists, the many voices of Dharma School and Choir filled the social hall with Dharma joy.

The Choir, led by Choir Director, Mari Murakami, and Choir Accompanist, Francis Okano, then performed their choral program of three pieces. Their first piece was a medley of much-loved Japanese folk songs, Akatombo, Hamabe no Uta, Furusato, and Hana. The Choir followed with a touching song entitled Because You Are There which expressed Choir members’ heartfelt mahalo to the ministers. For their last piece, the Choir offered the beautiful River Song, a choral piece with a timeless message.

Next, Craig Tsutsui and Bob Makinodan made their terrific MusicFest debut, singing and playing guitar. Their delightful delivery of Sukiyaki, to which they invited the audience to sing along, earned them many “Hana Hous” at the end of their performance. They followed up with an ever-popular Carole King song, “You’ve Got a Friend”.

To conclude the MusicFest program, Sharyn Sekine, Wendie Yumori, and Lillian Inatsuka taught folks in the audience the hand motions to Golden Chain, a lovely gatha composed by Donna Sasaki. Sharing the words and hand motions to “…and may we all attain perfect peace. Namo Amida Butsu, Namo Amida Butsu” provided the perfect close to MusicFest 2019.

Embedded Videos

The embedded videos below have been “queued up” to allow direct access to specific songs and video sections. After you start a video, you can display it full screen by clicking the square-bracket icon on the video.