Interview: Asa-Chang

Can you tell me about the origin or your drum set? The origin of the bongo I play is Indonesia.  I am not so familiar with Indonesian music, but I have adapted the Indonesian drum to my own style. But the method of playing the bongo in the manner of a tabla comes from Indonesia? Indonesia is far from India, but those people who didn't have a tabla but wanted to produce a similar sound came up with this method of playing.  I think its roots are in Jakarta.  It's a contemporary style of drumming called "Dandud."  It's kind of like Japanese enka singing for Indonesians.  When I was traveling on a concert tour  I saw this for the first time and was very impressed.  The tabla has an extensive history and spiritual aspect.  I am not so familiar with that, but the Indonesian bongo was cheap and simple, and yet able to produce similar sounds to the tabla. When did you first go to Indonesia? It was about ten years ago when I was with Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra.  It was at a performace in a "Dandud bar" which is kind of a social club for men.  And after our performance I saw this and was quite surprised.  The music was interesting, but the bongo in the style of a tabla looked cheap and even foolish which is a style I like. You also use a synthesizer drum. It's an old synthesizer drum like YMO (Yellow Magic Orchestra) uses, we do our own tuning and use that along with the tabla bongo sometimes during the concert for special effects.  So your bongo style is called tabla-bongo? I don't really know what the name is.  That's what I call it. Some people call it Dandud bongo. Have you ever studied tabla? Not at all actually.  At first I studied conga and western style drumming.  Tabla is very complex, requiring apprenticeship and all that.  So I thought of coming at it from a different angle and learned by myself. And U-Zhaan studied tabla in the traditional manner?  Yes.   He studied in Calcutta.  He has a much different mentality from me.  He's very interested in performing in the traditional technique of tabla performance.  But I want to come up with original rhythms and perform the tabla-bongo.  But as Junray, we combine our individual visions for our performances. How did you come up with the name Asa-Chang? (original Koichi Asakura) My name is Asakura, but people would call me Asa-chan (chan being a suffix friends use to refer to each other in place of the more formal "san")  Then it changed from chan to chang over time. What is your philosophy toward rhythm?  Recently we use the word groove in Japan to talk about rhythm.  This often refers to dance rhythms.  But I feel that beyond just this, the beat cna be used to make people feel certain moods.  I don't want to use complex beats.  So rather than using the heartbeat or the traditional Japanese eight beat, I want to approach it a different way.  But I don't want to try to be complex.  There are many possibilities. Are you more influenced by taiko or Indian rhythms? When I or other Japanese hear world percussion we think it's very exotic.  And taiko has become the same way.  But I find that traditional arts are very removed from common experience.  So taiko is as foreign to us as other forms of world music, Indian, Cuban, etc.  We don't have a way of experiencing kabuki music and taiko music in everyday life.   This is a very sad thing I think.  I would love to see a Japanese music that was closer to everyday Japanese life.  But that's not the way it is.  But rather than deliberately trying to introduce Japanese rhythms into my work, after all I think they are inherent within me, if they come out naturally that's great.  But there is nothing that I am "basing" my work on.  In my perception, I would like to bring out the sound of Tokyo and express that I am a Tokyo musician.  So there is no specific influence of a specific country. So you are expressing the mood of Tokyo? Not so intentionally.  Intentionally I want to express rhythms or formats that cannot be achieved in any other forum but Junray.  Why did you choose the name Junray? Junrei, pilgrimage, means a voyage to a holy place and then the returning home.  So it's not just about the going but also the coming back.  Rhythms similarly are about going and coming back.  So it's similar. When did you meet U-Zhaan? Recently.  About a year and a half ago.  Then we decided to collaborate.  What was the response at this year's Fuji Rock Festival? It was about three days.  I was also there last year.  But this year the audience response was stronger.  There is the song "hana" off our recent CD that has become somewhat famous, spreading the name of Junray.  So it was a great experience.  Page 2