Message from the performer

Hello, my name is Nobuhiro Suyama, I'm a violinist.

Each of these pieces are very characteristic and attractive, please enjoy them all.

Especially, I was very emotionally moved by the Marshall Islands' national anthem, it's very meditative and sounds like a prayer.

Please enjoy listening.

My name is Shohei Yamaji, and I play Piano.

I played few songs this time, and found 2 kinds of characters in those pieces.

One is the very rhythmical,

The others are hymns-like characters,

and dotted rhythms are what both of these types  have in common.

I believe the dotted rhythms are for giving energetic characters.

It was nice to learn about the islands in South Pacific regions, and their wonderful music compositions.

Hello, my name is Tomohiro Matsuhashi, and I am a pianist. This time, I played the national anthems of Federated States of Micronesia, Cook Islands, and Papua New Guinea for piano solo that I arranged for myself.

I have never had chance to hear those pieces before, and I am very grateful for this opportunity to get to know them.Every piece sounds very nice to me. 
As I learned the pieces, I also searched about their historic backgrounds, cultures, and geographic characteristics as well, and how beautiful they are! I really wished to be there one day while I was playing. I hope you enjoy them.

I'm Kanako Hayashi on violin, and I'm Nao Yamamoto on piano, we played the national anthems of Tuvalu and Fiji. The national anthem of Fiji starts with tranquil chorus, and grows into more vigorous part, and then ends very magnificently.It was very fun to play.

I felt the sense of pride from the both National anthems, and they are both powerful pieces.We played them with much excitement. And we also visualized the images of marvelous and expansive scenery of the Pacific Ocean while we play the songs.

We are going to play the national anthem of New Caledonia in the piano trio setting, Shushi Hori on violin, Nao Kato on cello, and Nao Yamamoto on piano. The original version of this song starts with the drum introduction, followed by grand chorus entrance.It is very joyful piece of music.I also took a look at some photos of the island, and I saw the different hues in the water, I found it absolutely gorgeous. As I learned New Caledonia being the territory of France, it was unexpected for me to find out that the anthem existed.

The piece is very friendly sounding, especially in the latter part of the piece, I would imagine singing the song in bright warm sunshine.

We enjoyed playing every details of this piece.

Hello, my name is Sachi Koda, I'm a violinist.
In this project, I mainly performed national anthems from Polynesian countries such as;

Samoa, believed to be the land where mankind had first reached before migrated to Hawaii, and surrounding regions,

and Tonga, known as the only country with the Kingdom among South Pacific countries.

I enjoyed very much to learn and play the national anthems of the countries that I was not familiar with before.
Please enjoy the characteristics of each pieces performed by stringed instruments and piano.

We, as 14 musicians from The Classical Music for Millions foundation, have performed 18 different national anthems in total, as an attempt to enhance mutual friendship between Oceania regions including Federated State of Micronesia and their host towns in Japan during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic-Paralympic Games, commissioned by Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee.
As a string quartet, we performed the national anthems of Tahiti and Cook Island.Shushi Hori and Kanako Hayashi on violin, Tomomi Tsuru on viola, and Nao Kato on cello.

Like the name of Pacific Ocean itself, many of these tunes made us feel peaceful as if we are playing in the warm sunshine, and right by the calm ocean.
We tend to imagine of solemn and majestic type of music as we think of anthems.
But any of the national anthems that we played this time inspired us into visualizing beautiful sceneries that made us want to visit one day.
Many tunes are easy to memorize, and I could not help humming some of these tunes after we learned them

I am Marina Mochizuki on violin, and I am Mayu Senda on piano, we played the national anthems of Nauru, and Papua New Guinea.

Both of the songs display warm and buoyant characters, and we feel privileged to perform them.

We enjoyed performing both songs very much especially because the chord progressions are gorgeous.

I am Tsubasa Matsuzawa on violin, and I am Miki Nakamura on piano.

We played the national anthems of Palau, and Kiribati. They have contrasting characters to each other. Palau shows very serene and intimate character,

while Kiribati sounds very proud and vigorous which made me conceive of the vast ocean surrounding the island.

It was also our pleasure to listen to the various national anthems from this region.