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Yoko Kanno, Shunji Iwai's Quake Anniversary Song Gets CD

"Hana wa Saku" (Flowers Are Blooming), the song that Yoko Kanno composed with lyrics by film writer/director Shunji Iwai to mark the one-year anniversary of the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake (Higashi Nihon Daishinsai) disaster, will get a CD on May 23. Part of the proceeds will go to the quake-affected areas. A limited edition will include a music video of the singers that was directed by Iwai.

34 singers, celebrities, and sports figures who hail from Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima Prefectures — the prefectures hardest hit by the disasters — contributed to the vocals:

Iwate Prefecture: Chikaco Sawada, Masao Sen, Sayaka Nakaya (AKB48), Kenji Niinuma, Hiroaki Murakami, Erika Yamakawa

Miyagi Prefecture: Shizuka Arakawa, Hiroshi Ikushima, ikemen's, Karen Iwata (AKB48), Kōhei Ōtomo, Eiko Kano, Caoli Cano, Ikumi Kumagai, Muneyuki Sato, Sandwichman, Mayo Suzukaze, Kyōka Suzuki, Masatoshi Nakamura, Katsuya Nomura, Miyuki Hatakeyama, Maggy Shinji, Kumiko Mori, Keaki Mori, Mimori Yusa, Yoshinori

Fukushima Prefecture: Kumiko Akiyoshi, Tomio Umezawa, Cha Kato, Yuki Kadokura, B-saku Sato, Toshiyuki Nishida, Naoyuki Harada, Takeshi Honda

Kanno, as well as Iwai, are from Miyagi Prefecture, and their hometowns were affected by the disaster.

[Via Ota-Suke]

Update: Yoshinori joined the lineup to raise the number of singers to 34. Thanks, thenextday.