Eternal Host by Hiroki Tanaka published on 2020-09-26T15:33:32Z 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.” Genre Indie