ゲルニカとはナチスドイツによって爆撃破壊されたスペインバスク地方の小都市の名前である。その蛮行に怒ったピカソが作成した絵画「ゲルニカ」でも有名である。
その名前を冠した日本人3人によるユニット（バンド）は「洋の東西を問わず、第二次世界大戦周辺の大衆音楽と芸術音楽を結びつける」というコンセプト（上野耕路）によって発案、活動を開始した。メンバーの3人とは作詞・美術の太田螢一、作・編曲・演奏の上野耕路、歌の戸川純である。3人の役割は完全分業体制であった。世界観は太田のポエジーによるところが大きい。サウンドは完全に上野耕路によったものである。歌の戸川純は演劇出身という持ち前の表現力と取り上げられている時代の音楽への共感から強い実在性を表出させた。
Guernica is the name of a small town in the Basque region of Spain that was bombed and destroyed by German planes during the Spanish Civil war.
It is also famous for the Picasso painting “Guernica” that was created to reflect the artists anger at the atrocities.
The Japanese Guernica project was conceived and based upon the concept of Koji Ueno to “link popular music and art music from both sides of World War II, regardless of whether Eastern or Western concept based.” The three Guernica members were Keiichi Oota, who wrote lyrics and created visual art concepts (album sleeves, stage designS etc), Koji Ueno, who composed, arranged and performed the songs musically, and popular chantrese Jun Togawa, who sang. The roles of the three members were completely separate. The Artistic and lyrical view is largely due to Oota’s poetry. The sound is entirely due to Koji Ueno, and singer Jun Togawa, expresses a strong sense of emotive existence through her natural expressiveness as an actor and her sympathies with the music of the eras being presented.
Guernica album sketch ideas
All designed by Keiichi Oota
draft drawn just prior to its release (1982)
