For Christmas 2023, we filmed a video of three generations singing Christmas songs. We made this video for Christmas party at the church, but I also thought to introduce this video at Oxygen Music.
My father, Tadashi Imashioya, is the second son in a family of six, and at the age of 18 he moved from Miyazaki to Osaka on his own to get a job at an electrical company. At that time, my father was suffering from stuttering and it was serious complex for him. In order to overcome this problem, he attended a rehabilitation school for stuttering, immersed himself in weight training (he was quite strong), and engaged in various religious activities. One evening, he went to Christian evangelism meeting, then he started attending church, and soon after he met Jesus and he was saved. His life was changed completely, and he overcame stuttering and now, as a pastor, he preach the love of God in the front of people every week. He is a type of grandpa who cannot stop talking once started at family gatherings. No one can imagine that he had stuttering problem before. Also, as you can see in the video, he is a quite good singer. When I was growing up, he was one of the best worship leaders in the church. When he led the worship service, the service became very lively. I also remember him always singing worship song at home and in the car while listening to worship music tapes (yes not CD nor Spotify!). My mother was also active as a choir conductor and piano player at church when she was young. I think my formative experience of worship came from watching my parent’s worship lifestyle.
And this gift of worship and music was passed on to all my daughters. The vocalist, my second daughter Misaki and the rhythm and vocalist, my fourth daughter Natsuki, loves worship and music. Because of my daughters, I listen and learn a lot of music from the younger generation, and they give me very helpful opinions for my compositions.
This video was made at my father's request, but it turned out to be a great opportunity for three generations to sing Christmas song to Jesus.
Merry Christmas! !