Elephantism

Ryuichi Sakamoto is famous for his exquisite music and for his search for peace between people of different cultures and religions on our planet. In his search for harmony he turned to Africa, to nature and to a species from whom we have something to learn. The Elephant.

In 2002 he visited Africa, including to our home and to the Maasai Mara where we observed elephants together and he played music to them on a keyboard. You can watch the clip here.

Elephantism — is the album of music composed by Sakamoto inspired by his visit. At the time I was ask to write what the word Elephantsim means to me.

His album comes with a hardback book in Japanese with notes by Kazumi Oguro the editor of Sotokoto Magazine, part of which contains his thoughts on elephants.

Elephant

Something can be heard in the distance, it may be a distant thunder. But perhaps our ears heard the murmurs of grass-grazing animals tens of kilometers away. Even with low-frequency sounds that are said to be inaudible to humans, in the savanna our whole body and the earth and the air resonate, and we may be able to feel something. It even makes me feel like that. There are elephants in the savanna.

Elephants are animals with excellent communication skills. By making full use of sounds that humans cannot hear, they communicate various intentions to each other. They're able to distinguish the voices of 100 animals in a certain area, not only the voices of their kind but also those of humans. They can also smell them. They genuinely remember the person who did something it did not like. Face-to-face with elephants, humans cannot lie. Their true identity has been discovered by them. You better believe this. If you are delicate and nervous, no matter how insensitive you are to it, they will feel any spicy vibrations in the air. And when you relax, an elegant atmosphere envelops their whole body.

The elephants have lived on this planet for so long that we humans and others have not been able to deal with them. What did the elephants think when long ago our human ancestors came down from the trees and appeared in the savanna? These naughty little animals, did they laugh when they couldn't handle them? Did what would happen in the future come out with a deep rumble (a groan)? No, they probably spent their time relaxing while looking sideways, just like they do now.

Mankind has not listened to the words of elephants for a long time. To the contrary, they even tried to force them out. We hunted elephants with spears at one time, shot them with guns at other times, instilled fear at another time, and intimidated them at yet another time. In Asia, elephants were tamed and used as luggage carriers and as tanks. Of course, some do try to interact with elephants. Why is that? It appears many women are involved in this.
Joyce Poole is one of the women who listens to the words of elephants. She examines the lives of elephants in detail and records their voices. She listens to various sounds and examines their reactions. What is the composition of the elephant family and how do they live? How do male and female elephants love each other? Through the studies of Joyce, the ecology of elephants has gradually become understood, and they have dramatically increased the understanding of elephants. In her laboratory overlooking the Great Rift Valley, the voices of elephants are analyzed, revealing the mystery of their life that humanity did not know about.