Field report :
SoRi --Over the Sea--
Waseda University Live Concerte

SoRi sang with all their hearts. (Eddie-left, Kenny-right)

The audience sang the Waseda School song together before the encore.

The audience got excited. They’re all standing!

Waseda Broadcasting Club
Junior of School of Education
Ayako Hiruma

SoRi, the Korean duo, held a concert at Okuma Auditorium on May 30.

For the 40th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between Japan and Korea, Waseda invited SoRi, who work to promote cultural exchanges between the two countries through their music. This concert aimed at promoting mutual understanding between overseas students and Japanese students. This is the first time that Korean artists have appeared on the stage of Okuma Auditorium.

Thanks to SoRi’s producer, Ms. Yukiko Kondo, an alumna of Waseda, three students’ groups could participate in the planning - BIBINPA�iWAVOC team for Korea-Japan Friendship Year 2005, the Waseda Advertising Club and the Waseda Broadcasting Club.

The first time I heard about the plan, I thought I could do something big. To tell the truth, I thought that our only job was would be to film the concert. But through arranging with Ms. Kondo and the persons concerned, I found that I hadn’t considered what I wanted to communicate though the filming. “Don’t do your job by halves just because you’re students,” she said as if she saw through our overdependence on others, and I was embarrassed.

While making arrangements with professional cameramen and other students’ groups, I felt a bit uneasy because the plan seemed to have become more than we could handle. But at the same time, I felt my anticipation for the concert became bigger and bigger.

On the day of the concert, I was too busy to enjoy the performance. But I was very happy to hear the audience saying the concert was great.

Through the planning of this concert, I could meet many people of different generations, spheres of life, and nationalities. I also learned many things I should reconsider. I want to make good use of everything I’ve learned from now on. In recent years, the distance between Korea and Japan has become shorter and shorter. I think we can understand each other much more. SoRi came over the sea and appeared in a historic concert. I want to think about the meaning of this again. This is a start of something big.