Japanese Special Artist Narimichi Kawabata

Blinded at the age of eight by a medical accident, Japanese violinist Narimichi Kawabata learned music by ear.

Narimichi Kawabata, together with leading Japanese conductors and artists from the Tokyo New City Orchestra regaled audiences with their Sound of Culture concerts in Ho Chi Minh City on Tuesday (July 14) and in the central city of Hue city on Friday (July 17).

“I didn’t have trouble studying the violin even though I could not see. It just made me make more effort than others,” Kawabata said.

“Every day, I do my best. So today, I’m still playing. Music and violin are my life and my breath.”

Kawabata was not born blind. He lost his eyesight when he was eight years old, probably as a side effect of medication he took after suffering a severe fever during a trip to Los Angeles in the US.

“What I could see was an unidentified white spot. I tried to look out the windows to the old trees outside, but I couldn’t see,” he said.

“I then understood I should start a new life without the existence of the so-called light. I knew I had to try my best.”

With his parents concerned about his future, Kawabata began to study the violin at the age of ten because it was something he was able to do without seeing.

“Becoming a violinist is something that never would have happened if the accident had not occurred,” said the 37-year-old violinist.

He experienced some difficult times after first picking up the violin, but he never gave it up simply because he has always been too stubborn.

Thanks to this unyielding character, he discovered that the instrument is a tool he could express himself with.

“Music can never be assessed objectively, whether it is good or not. To play with good technique is important, but that is not what it is all about,” he added.

Though living an optimistic life, he still feels that “it would have been much better if my eyes were not impaired.”

“At the moment, I am playing music in accordance with my isolated feelings. However, with normal eyes, I would be able to observe and recognize, and then correspond to the musical space between the violinist and listeners.”

No music, no joy

Narimichi Kawabata made a sensational debut as a violinist after graduating with top honors from the Royal Academy of Music and was conferred the Special Artist Status as only the second person in the academy’s long history of nearly 200 years.

Becoming one of the most desired soloists in Japan to perform regularly at top-class venues such as Suntory Hall, Kawabata dedicates significant amounts of his time to charity, potentially driven by his childhood experience of the medical accident, which left him visually impaired.

Kawabata’s music is known to be imaginative, elegant and tasteful with natural musicality supported by rock-solid technique.

The UK press described his sold-out performance at Wigmore Hall in 2000 as “…a dialogue that was almost conversational but accentuated the beauty of the delicate arabesques at every turn.”

He has been in the limelight ever since his debut album “On Wings of Song” became a record breaking hit in 1999.

In 1998, Kawabata had made his debut in Japan to critical acclaim, performing with the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra at Suntory Hall in Tokyo.

Since then, he has appeared regularly on the international stage including London’s Wigmore Hall and Carnegie Hall in New York, and always wowed critics and audiences alike.

Kawabata has also performed with major orchestras including the St. Petersburg Camerata and Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra.

Narimichi’s first CD “On Wings of Song” sold an unprecedented 200 thousand copies as a classical album, and the following CD “Ave Maria” also achieved No.1 position in the classical charts.

In his autobiography, Bokuwa Namidano Denai Mede Naita (I cried with eyes that have no tears), he said, “It is said that music is a universal language. I often encounter those moments.”

He also said, “You can live without music, unlike cooking. However, if you don’t have music, it is difficult to find joy in life, which then helps people serve others.”

Reported by Trang Ha