On Sunday, September 29, the “Kwansei Gakuin Glee Club 120th Anniversary Festival” was held at the Central Auditorium of Kwansei Gakuin University.
I’m an alumnus of the Kwansei Gakuin Glee Club, so I performed as a member of the OB chorus group, Shingetsukai.
I’d like to share a little about what the event was like, as well as about the Kwansei Gakuin Glee Club.
“Kwansei Gakuin Glee Club”
Some of you may have heard the term before, but a “glee club” is a choral group.
Originally, it meant a group that sang songs in the “glee” genre, and the first “Glee Club” choirs are said to have started in England. Later, choral groups called “glee clubs” also appeared in the United States and Japan.
Today, the term “glee club” is often used mainly to refer to a men’s chorus.
And in fact, Japan’s first men’s chorus was the Kwansei Gakuin Glee Club.
The Kwansei Gakuin Glee Club was formed in 1899 with just a few members, exactly 10 years after Kwansei Gakuin was founded in 1889.
This year marks exactly 120 years since then, making it the 130th anniversary of Kwansei Gakuin’s founding and the 120th anniversary of the Kwansei Gakuin Glee Club.
“Glee Club Festival”
Kwansei Gakuin has schools from elementary through university level, and among them, the junior high school, senior high school, and university each have a glee club.
The “Kwansei Gakuin Glee Club Festival” is a concert featuring the entire Glee Club Family, including those groups and the alumni chorus group “Shingetsukai.”
It is held every year around September. In the past, it was held in places such as Osaka, but recently it has been held on the Kwansei Gakuin campus.
This year’s “Kwansei Gakuin Glee Club Festival” was held on a grand scale as a commemorative concert for the 120th anniversary.
This is the view after entering through Kwansei Gakuin’s main gate.
The venue, the “Central Auditorium,” is located to the left.
This is the “Central Auditorium.”
It was recently rebuilt and has been given a fresh new look.
The “Kwansei Gakuin Glee Club 120th Anniversary Festival” was held here on a grand scale.
(Source: Kwansei Gakuin Glee Club Facebook page)
This is what the concert looked like.
A commemorative celebration was also held after the concert.
These are the flags of the various groups displayed on stage at the post-concert celebration.
From left to right: “Kwansei Gakuin Junior High School Glee Club,” “Kwansei Gakuin Senior High School Glee Club,” “Kwansei Gakuin Glee Club,” “Kwansei Gakuin Women’s Glee Club,” and “Shingetsukai.” These five choirs make up the “Glee Club Family.”
The junior high and senior high schools used to be boys’ schools, but they became coeducational a few years ago, and girls have also joined the glee clubs as a result.
Currently, the Junior High School Glee Club is a women’s chorus, and the Senior High School Glee Club is a mixed chorus.
The university glee club remains a men’s chorus, but a new women’s chorus, the “Kwansei Gakuin Women’s Glee Club,” was recently formed.
The Glee Club Family, which used to be all male, has changed quite a bit over the past few years.
As you can see, the celebration was also held on a grand scale.
“U BOJ!”
There is a song called “U BOJ!” that has long been cherished and sung by generations of the Kwansei Gakuin Glee Club.
This is the song.
It has been sung many times in all kinds of settings, such as concert encores and when conductors hand over their roles.
The song was originally a Croatian patriotic song, but after World War I it was passed on to the Kwansei Gakuin Glee Club by the Czech military.
Today, it is sung as a beloved song by many men’s choruses throughout Japan.
It was introduced in 1919, so this year also marks the 100th anniversary of the transmission of “U BOJ!”
There is detailed information about “U BOJ!” on the official Kwansei Gakuin Glee Club website, so please take a look there as well.
Kwansei Gakuin Glee Club official website
At this “Kwansei Gakuin Glee Club 120th Anniversary Festival,” a special stage was held to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the transmission of “U BOJ!” Guests were invited from Croatia, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia, three countries closely connected to “U BOJ!”, and performances included the opera version of “U BOJ!”
Upcoming Plans
In a typical year, performances include competitions in autumn, a Christmas concert in winter, and a recital after the New Year. This year, a Dream Concert featuring three schools, the “Kwansei Gakuin Glee Club,” “Takarazuka Music School,” and “Osaka College of Music,” is scheduled for November 30.
As a dream collaboration among three leading schools in the Kansai region, it will be exciting to see what kind of concert it turns out to be.
Please refer to the flyer below for details.
Details and application information are also available on the official Osaka College of Music website.
Osaka College of Music official website
