Rumbling

Composer: Ko Matsushita
Lyricist: Naoko Kudo (Translation: Wiliam I. Elliott, Katsumasa Nishihara)

Words from composer:

The text is based on a poem of the same title “Rumbling” included in Naoko Kudo’s poetry collection “A field sing-a-long”. The original title is “Nari Hibiku” written in Japanese.
The poem is very rhythmic, fun, and brings visual images to our minds’ eyes. I adapted this three-dimensional poem with a children’s chorus (or female chorus) and body percussion. The words “Dongara” and “Pikkara” in the piece are onomatopoeias and mimetic words unique to the Japanese language that describe sounds and flashes of thunder. I hope you enjoy their amusing rhythms.
This piece was composed in 2017 for the Shenyang Radio and Television Children’s Choir in China. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Shenyang Radio Television for allowing me to write this piece.