"Ma-sensei Live Final Episode"
400 times, seen off by a large number of guests
The "Ma-sensei Friday Live" held every week at Music & Pub City Jack reached its 400th and final performance on the 22nd. A large audience of people came to the venue, some of whom were standing, and they handed out bouquets of flowers to thank the performers for their efforts in hosting the event over the past year, while also enjoying the final live performance.
Former high school teacher Masaya Nakamine (66), known as Ma-sensei, moved back from the main island and began holding Friday night live shows at the bar run by his classmate Hiromasa Ishigaki in February 2012.
It has been held almost every week, except during the coronavirus pandemic.
Nakamine carefully selects songs for each performance, and together with Ishigaki and others, he has performed mainly original songs and standard folk songs.
On this day, which was the final stage, about 100 people, including regulars who have been attending since the first event, came to watch the last Friday live show.
The performance began with Nakamine's song "Sazanami" accompanied by Kayoko Nakagami's piano, followed by "Bungaku Shojo" and "Furusato no Umi" before concluding with the classics "Sonna Ame no Yoru wa" and "Kani-san." All 22 songs were originals, and 15 people, including guests, took to the stage to perform, receiving thunderous applause from the audience.
Takanori Asato, who has been attending the concert since the first show, said, "I've come to see them more than 300 times over the course of my musical career. They have a lot of great nostalgic songs and originals. I'd love to see them release a CD of the Friday live shows."
After finishing the final stage, Nakamine smiled and said, "If it weren't for COVID, we might have aimed for 500 performances. We've been able to continue this far thanks to the support of many members. From now on, I would like to continue my musical activities with the motto of 'slow music life.'"
Friday, March 29, 2024
From the Yaeyama Mainichi Shimbun