@ Fu-kyo-chi-in was not created with the intention
of releasing complete compositions for commercial use. The members make
no plan in advance how they intend to perform nor do they@use any signs
when they start to play. Instead they trust only in their own senses. To
this end they start from chaos. Within this chaos there exists a very faint
but permeating harmony, which once found, is followed and in the course
of enlarging it, music beyond the imagination of all is born. The audience
hears the process by which the music grows, takes shape and achieves its
own form of completeness.
However, one wonders what ever could the performers be concentrating on
during this time? Certainly ot on the score of some music, nor on the tones
the other members are producing. Instead their concentration centers on
the "music that exists in that place itself". In other words,
before the performance has acturally begun music is already present at the
place and time. Their concentration goes entirely into causing the "music"
that exists within a place to be realized as music in sound. This crazy,
almost dangerous activity is termed Fu-kyo.
"Cheek to cheek",
is certainly not Fu-kyo-chi-in's most reprsentative style. They are perhaps
more known for music that undulates with the strength and power of a spiraling
storm or whirlpool. This particular recording is taken from a performance
made at a former brewery. In it, the processes involved in making sae -
brewering, fermentation - seem alive and vivid in the music. Without doubt
"music that exists within the place itself". For Fu-kyo-chi-in,
music is this kind of responsive phenomenon.
@ΆmΉ(Fu-kyo-chi-in) is a jazz unit which was formed in 1996. The word,
"Fu-kyo"(wind-madness) expresses the exploration of refined aesthetics
within precarious states. "Chi-in" means "friends of music".
The group is an assembly of three musicians: Hiroshi Tamura on piano, Kazuhiko
Tsumura on guitar, and Sachiko Kakuhari on vocals.
@@The performance structure of this jazz unit, spontaneously developed through
its years of activity, is somewhat like the following:
1. No rehearsing or planning before any performance.
2. Although the pieces are selected by the vocalist, no conditions are set
for the rhythm, mood or concept of the pieces prior to the performance .
3. The instrumentalists are never accompanists, but improvisers.@No counting.
No cueing.
4. The musicians will rid themselves of all preconceptions concerning the
pieces, following only each one's own intuition and feelings.
5. Unity and harmony are not to be intended. What is sought by the musicians
is rather the natural emergence of such a state.
@In short, no thinking.
Even the above conditions are to be forgotten once the music starts. If
the performance is successful, it is attributed to pure coincidence.
@Fu-kyo-chi-in hopes, that through its performance, the audience may find
enjoyment in the manifestation of music that@can only exist in this very
moment.
‘piano‘@Hiroshi Tamura
A Yokohama man, he had his professional
debut at eighteen.For forty years since then, he has played on the
Jazz scene.
"To be honest, I don't like to talk about music.
My real interest on the other hand is in dinosaurs. I could talk about
them all day.
"Given a moment to spare, I join a dig. A little
while back, I was in Inner Mongolia. We didn't find anything, but
isn't that what you'd expect. Dinosaurs are not in the ground. All
that's there is bones. But the dinosaurs inside me are a different
story. No doubt about it, they are alive.
"Dinosaurs are
all around me. From the ricebowl to my underwear, everything has a
dinosaur on it. It's almost an art gallery - nothing like Van Gogh.
But if you took for instance the tyrannasaurus rex's beauty, you'd
see some fine examples here.
"Dinosaurs live in me. My music
is time from the dinosaur age in sound. "What about the twelve
tone scale? Who else has captured the rhythm of the dinosaurs in music.
No! Dinosaurs don't live in me.
"The moment finger hits
key at a performance I am a dinosaur. The Fukyo system allows for
this. Fukyo is the earth in infancy once more.
"Kakuhari
is the medium, high priestess of primitive time,
casting spells on me with her incantaions. Tsumura with his spear
prods my backside from time to time. But I am a dinosaur. No easy
thing to beat. I am Fukyo, too.
‘guitar‘@Kazuhiko Tsumura
Born in Osaka, he debuted professionally
at 21. In the thirty years since then he has played Jazz mainly at
the Aketa in Ogikubo.
"Things aren't easy. Kakuhari goes
out of tune. Hearing her you'd think that she couldn't be bothered
less with pitch. If she makes a sound its song as she herself says.
"Tamura, the moment Kakuhari goes off pitch, doesn't try to stay
with her - he just plays at a different pitch. I'm
left there wondering what to do. But I don't let it overcome me. It's
fun being in the middle of this. Humming and hawing, wondering what
to do. I enjoy it. "Soon a middle path opens between the two
wild ones; a human way, independent of the mad ones. I play this and
keep my mind. The middle way is sound in spirit.
"Dinosaurs
are no trouble. The incantations of a high priestess are no match
for the strength of the middle way.
They follow to middle way.
"Before I play in Fukyo, I prepare
things I don't have the chance to do in typical lives. But Fukyo starts
and it takes everything out of me. When it's finished, I can't remember
what happened. All three say the same. Fukyo wants music that won't
remain. Every note dies away.
"That's why we don't talk about
the performance afterwards. We make no plans beforehand either. We
only chat about what we'll have to eat that evening. Occassionally,
I have to listen to recordings of Fukyo.
What country does this come from? Who is playing it?
Honestly, I'm left bewildered.
‘vocal‘@Sachiko Kakuhari
From Osaka, she has been singing since
she was three."I practice near rivers. When I sing the birds
gather round. Birds are honest. One time, I found myself being watches
from all sides by a motorcycle gang.
"The leader asked,
'What are you up to. Casting spells?'.
'It's Jazz,' I said. 'A spell called j-a-z-z, is it?' he inquired
in all honesty. "I couldn't be bothered with this. 'That's right,'
I answered and started singing a scat. 'Bloody scary stuff!' I heard
him say as he took to his heels.
"The gang wasn't honest
and that's why they felt scared. I told Tsumura and Tamura what had
happened. They were interested and said the gang is more honest that
the birds. "I don't like putting feeling into what I sing. The
result is falseness. This is a weak spirit being tossed about by the
meaning of the words. But words are sound;
they are of the voice. "There are rhythm, pace and melody in
poetry. The singer realises the union of the poet's and the composer's
musics. Based on this, the singer must repeat this process of taking
apart and putting together throughout the
performance. This cannot be done in a normal, everyday state of mind.
Moreover, this process must ocur spontaneously: It must be improvisation.
"It is nine years since we got togher. Not once have I been praised.
When you get to this age people's opinions don't mean much. Feared
and frowned upon, I sing my song and laugh in their faces.
Live Schedule
@@@2011.@11@@November
@11/ 4 (Fri) @20:00 *stat
Kunitachi Hyoutanjima @HP¨ TEL 042-576-9960Tokyo Kunitachi city Fujimidai 1-4-4
@11/ 10 (Thu) @20:00 *stat
Kamiyouga Arthall 5-14-1-102 kamiyouga sxetagaya Ward Tokyo Japan@@
@11/ 20 (Sun) @20:00 *stat
AIREGINHP¨ TEL 045-641-91915-60 sumiyoshi-cho yokohama City
@@2011.@12@@December
@12/ 5 (Mon) @19:00*stat
Cafe Muriwui@HP¨ TEL 03-5429-20334-1-22-3F Soshigaya setagaya-ku Tokyo Japan Guitar-Tsumura & Bass-Toho Hikaru & Vocal-Kakuhari
@12/ 9 (Fri) @20:00 *stat
Kamiyouga Arthall 5-14-1-102 kamiyouga sxetagaya Ward Tokyo Japan
@12/ 19 (Mon) @19:15 *open @19:30 *stat
Zushi Bunka Plaza Hall HP¨ TEL 046-870-6622Zushi-City Zushi 4-2-10 Zushi Bunka Plaza Hall
@@[[[PDF
@12/ 28 (Wed) @20:00 *stat
AIREGINHP¨ TEL 045-641-91915-60 sumiyoshi-cho yokohama City
‘Fringe show FU-KYO-CHI-IN@reviews ery good modern jazz 11 Aug 2006
reviewer: Colin Bartlett, United Kingdom
From the festival brochure description I was expecting gentle new age inoffensive music which would be only mildy interesting. Within 5 seconds I realised I was very wrong, and after the first two numbers, I had tears in my eyes because the musicianship was so good, and from the very enthusiastic applause at the end (the performance was continuous without any breaks, although they performed 7 or 8 standards, including Gershwin's It Aint Necessarily So) the rest of the audience shared my view. There was some gentle playing: for example, the opening of Tea for Two was sung slowly and very touchingly, but there was then a faster dynamic middle section. At times there was a huge rhythmic drive to the music, at other times a loose free jazz approach, but always there was expert musicianship. They performed at last years festival, you still have an opportunity to hear them on Saturday 12th at 4pm, and if they are at the 2007 Edinburgh Festival then I for one will be there.
Live
at AIREGIN
1
. Old Devil Moon
2 . Angel Eyes
3 . Happy Talk
4 . Come Rain or Come Shine
5 . Rhythm-A-Ning
6 . I'm Gonna Sit Right Down
@ And Write Myself A Letter
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