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November 22, 2024
 

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Tom Bojko
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Mar 19, 2003
RASA: "The Unknighted Nations"
RASA's album "The Unknighted Nations" seems very long, not because it is boring or painful, but because it is so varied and interesting. You want ouds? We got your ouds. You want a cello? We got your cello. You want an African-American rapper or a freaky sounding guy with a synthesized voice? A woman...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Mar 12, 2003
Jamaaladeen Tacuma & Burhan Ocal's "Groove Alla Turca"
Given the number of cheesy Asian fusion records out there these days, "Groove Alla Turca" may seem like yet another dubious selection until the name Jamaaladeen Tacuma on the album's cover pops out at you ; the presence of Tacuma means funk -- unusual funk, but mean, greasy funk nonetheless.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Mar 5, 2003
Dave Fiuczynski: "Kif"
As with the music of many virtuosos, it is possible to become overwhelmed by Dave Fiuczynski's electric-guitar technique and his unique tonal pallette. After the Law of Diminishing Returns sets in, many amazing aspects of his playing might fly past the ears of many listeners. Fortunately, "Kif," with...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 26, 2003
Freed jazz
Musicians can be extraordinary in so many different ways. John Coltrane was on a radical quest for enlightenment until the day he died. Bill Evans could voice chords in ways no one else ever imagined. Like a cat, Theolonius Monk could step off an edge and always land on his feet. And Miles Davis? You...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Feb 26, 2003
Marc Ribot, Bill Frisell and Tim Sparks:"Masada Guitars"
'Masada Guitars" finds three very unusual and accomplished guitarists -- Marc Ribot, Bill Frisell and Tim Sparks -- interpreting the simple, elegant tunes from John Zorn's Masada songbook. Zorn began composing this material in 1993 and, by the time he finished, he'd written 208 of his most lyrical songs....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 19, 2003
I am what I play -- live
Internationally acclaimed DJ Karsh Kale has spent the last three months carrying a laptop loaded with ProTools recording and editing software through the chaos and inspiration that is India. Relishing both the miracles of technology and the wonders of the ancient, Kale stopped in Madras, Delhi and Bombay,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Feb 12, 2003
Ry Cooder & Manuel Galban: Mambo Sinuendo
'Mambo Sinuendo" finds Ry Cooder in Cuba again, this time with Buena Vista guitarist Manuel Galban at center stage. After a string of extremely satisfying albums with the Buena Vista crew, this album departs from tradition and finds the two guitarists exploring the sounds of a '50s Cuban guitar band...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Feb 5, 2003
The Lakatos Ensemble
Roby Lakatos was born into a Gypsy violin dynasty begun in the 18th century by Janos Binari, a man known as the "King of the Gypsy Violinists" and the "Hungarian Orpheus" to two of his admirers, Franz Liszt and Ludwig van Beethoven. Lakotas has recently applied those inherited traditions to the world...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 5, 2003
From a guy to the King
Just what is the essence of Elvis Presley? The sideburns? That sneer? Those pelvic thrusts?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Jan 29, 2003
Kocani Orkestar: "Alone at My Wedding"
The Kocani Orkestar is a brass band from Macedonia with a formidable rhythm section of four tuba players and a lone percussionist. Their songs are alternately led by male or female singers, a clarinet, several trumpets or a banjo that's played like an oud. On their new album, "Alone at My Wedding," the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Jan 22, 2003
Klimperei: "Pimpant!"
"Pimpant!" contains 43 songs, a signal that the music within could be a little weird. Also, the name of the group, Klimperei, is German for "able to play the piano just a little bit." Add to that the admission "we are not very good musicians" from one of the band's two members, and you might become a...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 22, 2003
On a personal journey with the koto
While visiting Tokyo recently, saxophonist and composer John Zorn praised Michiyo Yagi, saying, "She's an example of a new kind of musician that can play all different styles of music in her own personal way."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 15, 2003
You've got to give a little
Tamao Kubota, the founder and lead singer of Apple Beat, has a powerful, slightly husky voice and carries herself with an attractive air of unself-conscious defiance. She sounds as good belting it out like an impassioned R & B singer as she does slow, quiet and personal.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Jan 15, 2003
Toshinori Kondo: "Nerve Tripper"
Among his many accomplishments, trumpeter and electronic music programmer Toshinori Kondo has won the friendship of the Dalai Llama, played on Herbie Hancock's influential album "Future Shock" and produced the World Festival of Sacred Music in Hiroshima.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 8, 2003
Music of the saints
Someone once said that the best way to start building a jazz collection would be to buy a couple albums from each decade that Miles Davis was recording and, after that, choose a sideman from each of these selections and buy one of his solo albums. The same could be said of John Zorn and his collaborators,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Dec 25, 2002
The Pascals: "The Pascals Go"
The Pascals are a quirky collection of outstanding Japanese musicians whose tunes are penned in the spirit of the French composer Pascal Comelade.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Dec 18, 2002
Sparkle Drives: "None But the Righteous"
A few years ago, three tall black men entered 29th Street Guitars on the west side of Manhattan. One of these men began playing the steel guitars at the back of the shop, tearing them up with the power and conviction that should be the envy of any musician. After the three men left, one of the clerks...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Dec 4, 2002
Christine 23 Onna: "Acid Eater"
Before you listen to "Acid Eater," you might want to gather a few fetish items; this experience is worth externalizing. Start with a surfboard, a spacesuit and a videocassette of Barbarella.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Nov 27, 2002
Cyro Baptista: "Beat the Donkey"
The outrageous percussion, dance and martial arts ensemble known as Beat the Donkey is the glorious creation of the Brazilian-born multi-instrumentalist Cyro Baptista. When not beating the donkey, Baptista is a hired gun for such luminaries as Ryuichi Sakamoto, Herbie Hancock and Trey Anastasio. He's...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 27, 2002
Groove Collective forged in the fires of a mad experiment
In the fall of 1995, I spent many nights in a dank basement club called the Cooler, a former refrigerated warehouse in Manhattan's Meatpacking District. The neighborhood was raw -- the slaughterhouse smell of blood and death had coagulated in the cobblestones of Gansevoort Street and at night tall transvestite...
Two of America’s biggest debt holders are dumping Treasurys
The U.S. Treasury building in Washington. Investors in Japan and China sold a pile of U.S. debt in the last quarter, just before the U.S. presidential election.
Ishiba aggravates his own political failures with diplomatic faux pas
Prime Minster Shigeru Ishiba is greeted at the APEC summit in Lima by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday. The Japanese leader was criticized for remaining seated while meeting several world leaders at the event.
Japan's 3.31 million visitors in October set monthly record
Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in December 2023. Famous autumn leaf colors contributed to increased tourism demand last month from many markets across Asia, Europe and North America, the Japan National Tourism Organization has said.
Japan ranks last in romance satisfaction for second straight year
In a survey of 31 countries, Japan ranked last in terms of those who felt loved, with just 51% of respondents saying so.
Ruling coalition and DPP strike last-minute deal over economic policy
DPP policy chief Makoto Mahaguchi speaks at the party's policy gathering in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Japan, U.K. and Italy discuss inviting more countries to joint fighter project
A new concept model of a next-generation fighter jet to be jointly developed by Japan, Britain and Italy is on display in Farnborough, Hampshire, in July.
Haruki Murakami's 'The City and Its Uncertain Walls' gives deep deja vu
For “The City and Its Uncertain Walls,” translated into English by Philip Gabriel, Haruki Murakami confronts the ghosts who won't leave him alone.
Japanese expats in Asia find community through rugby
The Taiwan Fivewoods celebrate their victory at the 2023 Asian Japanese Rugby Cup in December of last year.
In Fukushima, a weekend of prose, poetry and translation
Aomori-based writer JJ Carter presented on tabletop gaming as creative inspiration for building characters and narratives.
For Dr. Nakamats, aging is just experience in action
Though he didn't win the recent gubernatorial election in Tokyo, the 96-year-old Dr. Nakamats' run was seen as inspirational in Japan's aging society.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?
By Kathryn Wortley

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