hasanhujairi[dot]com

Yes, you read it right. I think that musicians are heavy travelers. Why you ask? Let me tell you about the last two trips I’ve had over the past month: My trip to Chichibu in Saitama Prefecture (around 2 hours outside of Tokyo), and my long-short trip between Narita International Airport and Bahrain International Airport.

1. Trip to Chichibu (to volunteer in the Peace Child Tokyo Summer 2008 Program):
Between August 17th and 26th, I volunteered as an interpreter in the 2008 Peace Child Tokyo Summer Program. I participated in last year’s program as a foreign participant. My experience last year involved going through many workshops about different issues such as Peace, Nature, Communication and Identity. All of us were asked to think, feel and discuss our findings with the others. To make a long story short, all the participants left the program with many new impressions and ideas about different issues and about themselves. This year was along the same lines, but the main difference to me was that I was volunteering as a Japanese/English interpreter (which I realize is something that requires patience, energy and being humble). I also helped around the camp site (occasionally helped out in the kitchen, cut up some fire wood, and moved some of the heavier things that needed to be moved). Besides all the clothes and things I needed to take with me, I carried my oud (Middle Eastern Lute) and guitar to play some music while I was there at the camp. This brings us to the point: our musical instruments make us carry heavier things.

Traveling between my dorm room and the train stations along the way, I had to bargain myself through all the ticket gates and crowded train stations to make it Chichibu. All along the way, I cursed at myself for deciding to carry both my oud and my guitar, mainly because it made lifting all my other luggage nearly impossible, and I figured that for that two and a half hours between my dorm room and Chichibu station, I must have mustered up some superhuman strength. I was a walking zeppelin.

All along the way, I asked myself, “Why can I never travel light?”. Then, I began to wonder when was the last time I traveled without carrying a single musical instrument. I even have a habit of carrying my musical instruments to any family gathering in Bahrain.

Us musicians (amateurs or professionals) carry more than just the physical weight of our instruments. We carry the music inside us. I know this sounds strange, but on my way to Saitama, I saw other travelers carrying cases with different instruments and we all seemed to acknowledge the weight each of us is carrying.

2. Flying between Tokyo, Hong Kong and Bahrain:
I noticed the same thing a couple of days ago. As I walked around Hong Kong Airport’s duty free area, I noticed many travelers carrying different musical instruments: cellos, guitars, accordions, violins (I was the only one carrying my oud with me). I got a few strange looks from the customs officers, who seemed to be amused with the shape of the oud and they made me open the case just so that I can show them what it looked like (they apparently made funny comments about the instrument in Cantonese, which I don’t understand at all). Again, I thought how interesting it was to be one of the few carrying around.

Ah.. I don’t know where this blog entry is going. Doesn’t matter, though: I’m home.