Musicians from Japan are collaborating with Indian artistes to present a Jazz musical at FICCI auditorium. The director of The Japan Foundation, Misako Futsuki, tells Arjita Mishra that language was no barrier
You would hardly expect Japanese and Indian musicians matching notes on the popular jazz track Caravan. But the Japan Foundation hall reverberated with Oriental rhythms crossing the bridge to master the Occident.
The four-member Japanese group, FONTE, has never been to India, leave alone being familiar with our music and musicians. Yet they were interested in collaborations, negotiating a mutually known territory of jazz, and using it to get closer to us and get to the root of our kind of music.
Yes, language was a barrier for us but not for the little group of musicians who communicated with each other through gestures and beats. But they did understand that we wanted to know their names. There was Masami Nakagawa on the flute, Kazuhiko Obata on the guitar and Gennoshin Yasui on the percussions. Each artiste has a prominent experience in the Japanese jazz scene.
Misako Futsuki, director of art and culture exchange, Japan Foundation shared, “Fonte means ‘fountain’ in Portuguese, and aptly, the group’s members are very much like ‘fountains’ of creativity. They also have prolific careers as soloists, often representing Japan, and have worked and performed on numerous recordings and concerts,” he told us.
This group will be performing for the first time today at FICCI Auditorium and Futsuki very humbly denied any information on what the show would be like. “That will have to be a surprise. Be a part of the evening, and you’ll enjoy every bit of it. The songs would be mainly from the albums of the group,” he smiled.
But he did tell us that for the performance FONTE would be joined by Kiichiro Komobuchi, a gifted bassist, renowned the world over.
The music did not stop during the course of our conversation. However, Nakagawa stopped and said something in their native tongue and Futsuki gladly translated it for us. “They say it is their frst time in India and that they are excited to know how their performance will be received,” he said.
It is not everyday that you get to hear a collaboration so diverse. “None of the Japanese artistes had met the Indian artistes before. So right now the whole experience is going to be new, like a magical first encounter. But the percussionist Gennoshin Yasui has been working for a Japanese insurance company in Gurgaon since June 2015,” Futsuki added.
Fonte has released three albums and are currently working on a few innovations. But they politely declined to divulge any other information. “Disclosing on details at this time would be a little difficult,” they wrapped up before turning their focus to their instruments.