介護記憶曲
“Kaigo Kioku Kyoku” means caregiving memory songs
Photo of the living room in the house - credit: Maya Bankovic
Hiroki’s debut solo album “Kaigo Kioku Kyoku” speaks to the celebration of brightness, while reckoning with darkness.
“Kaigo Kioku Kyoku”, which translates into “Caregiving Memory Songs” in Japanese, is the culmination of his two-year long experience as a live-in caregiver for both his grandmother with Alzheimer’s and his uncle with terminal cancer.
In a further nod to the circular nature of life, the house in which Hiroki cared for his relatives was also the one he was born in. Combining the sounds of objects collected from the house, voice recordings of his relatives, and structuring the songs off of hymns and Japanese folk songs, Hiroki has created a “sonic archive” to preserve his unique family history, and document the stark reality of being a caregiver.
“I wanted to create a sonic archive of the space that had provided me life, and served as space for transformation and shedding. I wanted to provide a voice that I hadn’t heard before, one that illustrated the experience of being a caregiver in stark detail. I wanted to create an album that celebrated my family's multicultural heritage and created a snapshot of a family's history.”
Portrait of the family from Left: Daphne, Bryan (uncle), Kathleen (Grandmother), Deirdre, Vincent, Stephen, Jacqueline- credit: Maya Bankovic, Claire Cavanaugh
Kathleen Goring (1924 - 2019) was raised in Takada, Japan. She graduated from McGill University, and was deeply involved in the Student Christian Movement where she met Vince Goring. They moved to Kyoto, Japan in 1963 to carry on the family missionary tradition. She excelled in a range of talents such as quilting, gardening, ikebana, wood carving and cake decorating. She joined St. Monica’s Church after retirement, where she played the piano for the services into her 90s.
Bryan Goring (1954 - 2018) was born in Saskatoon, Canada. Adopted in infancy by Kathleen and Vincent Goring he was raised first in Canada and then in Kyoto, Japan. Bryan pursued a number of different careers in his life, including hairdresser, court reporter, TTC driver and truck driver. Some of his favourite musicians were Bruce Cockburn, Bruce Springsteen and Gordon Lightfoot.
