Forgotten Words (feat. Kiwako Ashimine) [Festival of Ten]

The journey of Mirai Kodai Orchestra began on January 21, 2016. The song that started it all, and went on to become the band's signature work, "Forgotten Words (Wasureji no Kotonoha)," turns ten this year. With over 100 million viral streams to its name, the song has been re-recorded by its original singer, Kiwako Ashimine, together with the band's Miyako Matsuoka, who composed the song and plays piano here.

The recording was made in something like the environment of a live solo set. A single performance, in a single place, at a single moment. The focused tension of a live take is what gives this rendition its honed, distilled musical expression.

"Sought, searched for, and wandered after, it is at last sung, becoming a melody of thousands, of millions, of billions." Just as the lyric says, "Forgotten Words" has been sung by countless voices over these ten years. The very singer who first gave the song its voice now sings it again, ten years on. That single change is enough to make it sound like an entirely different song from the original.

On the occasion of this release, Mirai Kodai Orchestra's Taketeru Sunamori wrote: "With deep gratitude that the story continues. Our journey is not yet over. Let us walk on, together." With this tenth-anniversary acoustic rendition, the next ten years begin.