|
|
 |
| |
| Come and party with the animals |
Poetry, music and art come together in
a vibrant celebration Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals,
writes Tom Foot
The Carnival of the Animals Illustrated by Satoshi Kitamura
Walker Books, £10.99
THE music was inspired by the movement of animals, and although
the composer thought it frivolous at the time, The Carnival of the
Animals has become his most popular composition.
Now 13 poets have, in their turn, been inspired by that music by
the French composer Camille Saint-Saëns.
And those poems have inspired a Japanese illustrator who lives in
Belsize Park. All are collected in this beautiful book.
The poets were chosen by the founders of the Poems on the Underground,
Judith Chernaik, who lives in Gospel Oak, Gerard Benson of Highgate
and Cicerly Herbert, from Hampstead.
They were chosen for their likeness to the animals in the Saint-Saëns’
zoological fantasy and all had previously been included in the popular
Poems on the Underground collection.
“James Berry just had to be the lion,” explains writer
Judith Chernaik. “He is just so dignified.”
Adrian Mitchell was perfect for the plodding elephant because he
signs his books with a little elephant’s head. Kit Wright was
the cock, Charles Gausley seemed a swan, and so on.
The poets were chosen, as The award-winning Japanese children’s
writer and illustrator, Satoshi Kitamura, has illustrated the book.
He spent much of the last year going to Hampstead Heath, Primrose
Hill and London Zoo to draw the animals, and says this is one of
his best works.
Complete with a Saint-Saëns CD directed by Chernaik’s
son David, the end product – with music inspired by animals,
poems inspired by music, and illustrations by all three – the
book is its own carnival of mammals.
More than 100 years ago, Saint-Saëns’ pictured animals
dancing to popular songs. He dashed off scores and sent them to
his friend. Saint-Saëns’ felt the music was too frivolous
to publish. Today, the Carnival is among the most popular compositions.
All the poets have had the work published by Poems on the Underground
– which celebrates its 20th anniversary in January. The charity,
funded by the Arts Council since its conception, has proved a huge
success.
But why is Chernaik, who wrote a poem for the collection, the tortoise?
She says: “It’s something personal. Anyone who knows me
well enough will know.”
Beneath the mottled shell of Chernaik’s tortoise, “beats
the heart of a young dancer”. It dreams of twirling on table
tops, turning cartwheels and longs for a kiss.
She says: “There was an illustrated version of the Carnival
by Ogden Nash. But I found it very tedious. I once saw that Satoshi’s
artwork went up in the Metro in Tokyo. It was a bit like Poems on
the Underground – ever since I’ve wanted to work with
him.
“Satoshi brings the whole thing to life. He listened to all
the music and read the poems before he started drawing. He is quite
wonderful.”
Kitamura was born in 1956 in Tokyo. When he was young he read comics
and these influenced his style. He says he was influenced by anything
visual from a tin of sardines to fine art. Although not trained
as an artist, aged 19 he worked commercially in Japan as an illustrator
for adverts and magazines.
He moved to London in 1979 and mainly designed greeting cards. Speaking
at his Muswell Hill home, Kitamura says: “I like music very
much and the poems of Adrian Mitchell and Wendy Cope. It really
is the most brilliant book – it is not often you get a really
good idea from publishers. I feel very lucky to be given the job.
“I really wanted to do it but it was difficult. I had to experiment
with new styles and mingle the music in my head. I would sit listening
to music watching the animals at the zoo move.”
But life has not always been a walk in the park for Kitamura. “It
isn’t easy living in London as an illustrator,” he says.
“I had to get by doing some translating work.”
Kitamura revealed his anguish at not being recognised in his home
country.
He says: “They think that I am fooling in Japan. It’s
sad. They can’t relate to the pictures. They say they are un-Japanese
but I was influenced by traditional Japanese drawing.” |
| |
|
|
