We are all aware of the unfortunate events in Japan as of late. We’ve seen several footages of the destruction and complete chaos left by mother nature. Very sad indeed.
I thought it would be refreshing to share some positive “feel good” material from Japan. I’m sure we can all agree that many great things come out of that nation…culture, cuisine, fashion, music…the list goes on!
I became exposed to the Nu-Jazz/Broken Beat scene in the early 2000′s and the majority of the artists that resinated with me were Japanese. Since then I was quite intrigued by the heavy jazz influence and appreciation of jazz music in Japan…only to realise that the history stemmed from the 1920′s. Here’s a very brief summary:
In the 1920′s several local jazz musicians emerged from the districts of Osaka and Kobe. They were heavily influenced by the presence of Filipino and American bands.
During World War II, jazz was considered “enemy music” and was banned in Japan. Fortunately, the genre was far too popular to successfully be banned and by the end of the war, native jazz artists flourished…traveling to the US where the troops were eager to listen to the music they listened to back home. The Allied Occupation of Japan (1945-1952) provided incentives for Japanese artists to emerge.
Jazz music in Japan (Japanese Jazz) has been criticised for being a cheap imitation of US jazz and in response to the ridicule and belittling of their music, several artists began to add a “national flavour” to their work by adding traditional instruments such as the Japanese drum (tsuzumi).
Jazz, like any other genre of music, has evolved. Thanks to the innovative jazz fusion movement of the 70′s and the electronica movement in the late 80′s, 90′s and today, we are exposed to such wider categories of music. We are exposed to several DJs/producers from across the world and new genres of music will continue to develop.
Here are just a few of my favourite Japanese artists:
1) Kyoto Jazz Massive:
2) Yukihiro Fukutomi (One of my favourite nu-jazz/broken beat tracks of all time)
3) Monday Michiru
4) Soil & Pimp Sessions
Now there’s so much more…maybe I will do a part 2. I tried covering the different styles of Jazz music.
Enjoy and stay tuned!
Tags: Cafe Olé, Cheyenne Baptiste, Japan, Japanese Jazz, Music, Nu Jazz/broken beats
