The third artist who has just received an exciting package of audio files in the post for remixing is Japanese native but London resident tatsuki*. He also spends a good deal of time in Copenhagen as part of the Danish group Blue Foundation, to whom he contributes the DJ and track-making skills that have formed part of many collaborations and releases. Residents of London can next see him performing as part of the Original Cultures project at Corbet Place on Friday 5th March 2010. Please listen below for a taste of the innovative sounds and techniques that we happily anticipate being applied to our soundtrack material.

This track is taken from the album Jaku by DJ Krush, which has been a massive inspiration in the development of this film. In particular the blending of hip-hop with traditional Japanese instruments that takes place elsewhere on the album was a key catalyst for coming to understand how the modern practice of turntablism can sit alongside older forms of Japanese music, as happens in the film with a priest who is also a DJ, Tatsumi Akinobu. The connotations of the title Jaku, which can be translated as ‘elegant simplicity’, alongside other album titles such as Kakusei, meaning ‘awakening’, also hints that the character of this type of music can bear comparison with the contemplative and even religious atmosphere of other forms of Japanese music, despite not identifiably belonging to any particular religion.

DJ Krush will shortly be beginning his latest series of shows around the world, coming to London to play at the Electric Ballroom on April 29th 2010. His live performances are astonishing displays of technique and musicality – perhaps years from now he will come to be seen as one of the crucial founders in the Japanese culture of DJ-do – the way of the DJ – an art form bearing the same aesthetic hallmarks of wildness but precision that exist in Japanese cultural traditions such as Sho-do, the way of the brush that is calligraphy; Cha-do, the way of tea that infuses the tea ceremony; or Ka-do, the way of flowers that is ikebana flower arranging.

“the skillful manipulation of sonic conventions of a Japanese music genre reminds of similar artistry in much traditional East Asian ink painting. There one sees the same mountains, flowers, boats or creatures and is capitvated by the consummate skill with which the artist draws the same image again”

William Malm, Six Hidden Views of Japanese Music, p.49

Also in the sonic obsessed city of Taketa, we came across this remarkable ‘instrument’ outside the local art gallery – a Suikinkutsu or water koto cavern; a koto being a traditional Japanese stringed instrument, in this case somehow replicated by the elemental forces of water, rocks and gravity. Again make sure the sound is turned up to hear some special micro-melodies, with the dramatic ambience of a passing car.

Despite the labelling being in Japanese, hopefully the diagram below gives a universally understandable explanation of how it works – water through rocks, over time, multiplied within a large space, channelled through a bamboo hearing stick.

We are pleased to announce the next artist who is taking part in the remixing of audio footage from the film’s soundtrack.

‘woob‘ is one of the artistic incarnations of Paul Frankland, having released two well-received albums under this name on the Em:t record label. Recently returning to this identity after recording in collaborations as Journeyman and Max & Harvey for the Ninja Tune label, please listen to his latest track below to get a taste of the type of ambient delights we look forward to having him contribute to this project.

The following quote has been of great inspiration in developing this film

“to me the world is sound. Sound penetrates me, linking me to the world. I give sounds active meaning. By doing this I am assured of being in the sounds, becoming one with them. To me this is the greatest reality. It is not that I shape anything, but rather that I desire to merge with the world.”

Toru Takemitsu, Confronting Silence, p.13

Here is a documentary about Takemitsu’s work on film soundtracks. Unfortunately the quality of the picture and sound is not great but it is still worth watching for some of the insights that Takemitsu reveals and the interviews with a fine selection of Japanese film directors.

Make sure the sound is turned up when watching the following video clip in order to be able to hear a road that sings.

This musical motoring is achieved through sets of grooves in the tarmac which cause a car passing over them to vibrate at certain frequencies, with the different ‘pitches’ then carefully spaced out to create the desired tune when driven over at an optimum speed.

The melody that this road is playing comes from the main theme of the song Kojo no Tsuki – translatable as The Moon of the Castle Ruins – composed by Rentaro Taki (there are many versions you can compare to linked from here). The song was reputedly inspired by the ruins of Oka Castle in the city of Taketa in Oita prefecture on the Southern Japanese island of Kyushu, where Rentaro Taki lived for a while. Our footage was filmed just outside Taketa, where we were filming with the Sho player Eri Fujii, with the Melody Road forming part of a general civic enthusiasm for music that exists around the town. The melancholy mood of the song is particularly apt both because of the sadly pre-mature death of the composer, as well as some epic tragedies relating to the history of the castle itself.

Alongside the finished film, there will also be a vinyl and CD release of music from or related to the film. Audio footage from the film’s soundtrack is currently being sent out to a range of artists to reinterpret as they wish.

The first collaborating artist to announce is kidkanevil, with fortuitous timing given the imminent release of his heavily Japanese flavoured album Basho Basho. You can listen to this album using the player below.

It would probably be possible to trace the beginnings of this project to reading the following sentence in Professor Richard Bowring’s The Religious Traditions of Japan p.253.

“Emerging from Kuya’s half-open mouth are six small statues of Amitabha strung out along a line of wire; an evocative statement of the magical potential of sound, the embodiment of nembutsu.”

Here is the image he is referring to.

This carving manifests the belief of the tradition known as Pure Land Buddhism that special benefit can be gained by chanting the name of an incarnation of the Buddha called Amida.