Dojo
DojoAketa no MiseMay 16, 2015八木美知依Michiyo Yagi—electric 21-string koto, 17-string bass koto, electronics本田珠也Tamaya Honda—drumsAt the height of intense improvising during Dojo’s recent live gig, one of the strings on the koto broke, adding an unpredictable tone and a surprising moment. Frankly, though, it was a surprise only one string broke during the evening. Dojo is an intense collaboration between koto master Michiyo Yagi and all-around drummer Tamaya Honda that layers inventiveness on inventiveness for strikingly unique improvised music.
The first song of the night started on bass koto, with Yagi recording a short loop delay over which she jammed freely. She moved from the bass koto, still looping, to the 21-string koto, something of a journey since the instruments are so big. Then, leaning in to the koto, she enveloped musical idea inside idea for a very electric, full-on sound that is all her own.Honda’s drumming centered the music in the present, with a fluidity that comes from free jazz, but isn’t stuck in any categories. As a drummer in many groups, Honda can do it all, but for this duo, he really played from the heart, following his own insights and intuitions about rhythm. His drumming is as contemporary and creative as any in Tokyo.
Since koto is so strongly identified with Asian traditional music, Yagi’s koto playing definitely harkened to the past. But at the same time, her vision of the music is very much centered in the present. The electric distortion, reverb and compressor give her a freer range to more fully express what her virtuoso technique is capable of. It is not just that the koto is electrified, but more that her thinking is. And yet the acoustic intimacy never gets completely submerged.No matter what the mood, Yagi and Honda switched freely back and forth, as if percussive and stringed instruments were just ways into the music. Once inside, they played melodically on drums, or rhythmically on the (many) strings, to layer thick rich textures over the other instrument and conspire on stately lyrical streams of ideas. Strumming and drumming created a shifting, pulsing flow that merged and diverged in surprising ways.Tamaya and Yagi both use the full range of their talents, and the music kept going straightforward, as if the loops sounded different each time. No part of their instruments went untouched. Neither one ever slipped into a supporting role, but instead thrived off the tensions they found—ancient with contemporary, acoustic with electric, classic virtuoso with free improv, Asian and western, taut and wild.The second set flowed more emotionally, freely and reflectively, with each song more mesmerizing and hypnotic than the last. The songs in the second set allowed the purity of the strings and the purity of the drums to blend in multiple ways, and at multiple levels. That was especially intriguing after the explosive, cathartic music of the first set.
The music Dojo makes is so unique, so unlike anything else, it is as if you have to figure out how to listen before you can start to hear all they are doing. But once you do, it’s an amazing duo to experience, and one not to miss.Michiyo Yagihttp://michiyo-yagi.cocolog-nifty.comhttp://www.japanimprov.com/myagiTamaya Hondahttp://www10.ocn.ne.jp/~mondo/