By Hiroko Yamaguchi
NARA, JAPAN — For 20 years, Atsuko Arai has been traveling around the countryside of Nara Prefecture rescuing traditional children’s songs. With falling populations in rural areas and changes in the way children interact with each other killing off many of the songs, it is a race against time for the 58-year-old. So far, she has recorded and scored close to 400 tunes and rhymes.
But Arai, 58, the driving force behind the Nara-based Matsubokkuri Children’s Choir, believes saving a ditty is about more than just taking it down and locking it away in an archive. It must be performed.
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