アムハアレツ - アムハアレツ

ICR (Self-Released) - LP
Japan, 1988
Xian / Japanese / Folk

1980's Christian Folk... privately pressed.... From Japan?????!!!!! Not the kind of record you see everyday... Extremely rare, obviously.

The music is exactly what you think it is: Breezy Xian folk sung in Japanese. So, I'll spend the time I usually spend writing about the music, writing about the story behind this historic oddity. You might have seen the not-so-great Martin Scorsese film about the persecution of Christian monks in Japan in the 17th Century, but you may not know that there are still over a million of Japanese citizens worshiping the Lord.

You can visit extremely Myazaki-esque Trappist monasteries, like Our Lady Of The Lighthouse in Hokkaido, but what interest us today are the small secular Christian communities within urban centres, like the Izumi Baptist Church, founded in 1949 in Setagaya, Tokyo. アムハアレツ (Am ha'aretz, "common people" in Hebrew), the band that released this record to help repay the construction of the church's Education Hall, was founded by believers of this Tokyo parish. From what I red on a blog, it seems the band still exists, and is invited to perform in other Japanese Baptist churches in the country.

It is quite pleasant to imagine this group of Japanese people, into Jesus Christ and Bob Dylan, writing and recording what they believed was canonically sounding Xian folk. And what makes this LP so special, is the feeling that it opened a window, not only on a certain space and time, but a very specific religious community in Japan, still active. No matter if you're not a believer yourself, you can't deny the fact that the aesthetics are pleasant. Special mention to the great artwork! (NM/NM)

Tracklist

1. アムハアレツ
2. ユダの地ベツレヘム
3. カナの婚礼
4. 詩篇63篇
5. 主いましたまえ
6. 野原の子守唄
7. イエスさまはどこに
8. パームサンデイ
9. ヴィアドロローザ
10. 主はガリラヤへ
11. 暗き世に