Two Hokkaido gigs in July 2015

Hikashu will perform two gigs in Hokkaido next month. Fukushima-cho on July 4 and Sapporo on July 5.

According to the band, this is the first time for them to play the northern island in the 22 years.

July 4, 2015
"the 20th Kagaribi concert"
@ Fukushima Daijingu
Fukushima-cho
open 17:00 - start 17:30
admission 2,000 yen (500 yen under 18)
www.town.fukushima.hokkaido.jp

Fukushima Daijingu, Fukushima-cho



July 5, 2015
@ Coo
Sapporo
adv 4,000 yen - at door 4,500 yen
open 18:30 - start 19:00
www.sapporo-coo.com

Coo, Sapporo

Jazz Art Sengawa 2015 announced

The 8th Jazz Art Sengawa, one of the most prominent events for improvised and creative music in Japan, is held on September 9 and 10 this year. The venue is Sengawa Theatre which is located in Chofu of west Tokyo.

Jazz Art Sengawa is an artist-led event and its producers are Makigami Koichi (voice performer, multi-instrumentalist), Fujiwara Kiyoto (double-bass player and music educator), and Sakamoto Hiromichi (cellist and improviser).

The line-up is as follows.


September 9 Saturday

13:30-15:00
NOTALIN'S (Endo Michiro, Ishizuka Toshiaki, Sakamoto Hiromichi)
Meguro Yosuke
Ten Ten Ko
directed by Sakamoto Hiromichi

16:30-18:00
Oki Itaru - Ayumi Tanaka
Fujiwara Kiyoto - Yaji Michiyo
directed by Fujiwara Kiyoto

19:30-21:00
N/Y (Niigaki Takashi, Yoshida Ryuichi)
Hikashu with Koketsu Masayo
directed by Makigami Koichi


September 10 Sunday

13:30-15:00
Art Hirahara - Murakami Hiroshi - Fujiwara Kiyoto
Ota Keisuke - Miyazaki Hirofumi - Tomikawa Masatsugu
directed by Fujiwara Kiyoto

16:30-18:00
Carmen Maki, Kawakami Mieko - songs and poetry
accompanied by Saito Tetsuya, Suzuki Masato, Senju Muneomi, Sakamoto Hiromichi
directed by Sakamoto Hiromichi

19:30-21:00
Pre-Cambria Clarinet Quartet
[Shimizu Kazuto, Umezu Kazutoki, Tada Yoko, Kondo Tatsuro]
Time is A Blind Guide
　[Haakon Åse、Lucy Railton、Kit Downes、Conor Chaplin、Thomas Strønen]
directed by Makigami Koichi


Jazz Art Sengawa on YouTube

Jazz Art Sengawa on Sengawa Gekijo website

Jazz Art Sengawa on Facebook


September 9 and 10, 2015
Jazz Art Sengawa
@ Sengawa Theatre
Chofu, Tokyo
Tickets available at the box office of the venue on June 27, 2015.

Sengawa Theatre, Chofu, Tokyo

Latest Promotional Event in Osaka

ヒカシューさんインストアライブはじまりました！ヒカシュー史上関西インストアライブは初！37年前の下北から近年の渋谷タワレコに続く3回目！ pic.twitter.com/e421ZgCZtU

— タワーレコード難波店 (@TOWER_Namba) 2015, 5月 16

Right now Hikashu has been touring in Kansai region, and yesterday they did a promotional stint for the new album at Tower Records Namba, Osaka.

Two years ago the band did the same at Tower Records Shibuya, Tokyo. But at that time, drummer Sato Masaharu was not there - unfortunately, it seemed that he had other obligation.

Of course, this time the band was full line-up. According to the tweets from the audience, Sato had to play an electric kit, a kind he played for the first time. But the veteran drummer played it with ease - even he took a solo in "Naruhodo," which was just terrific.

The performance's duration was about a half hour - all consisted of the selection from "Ikitekoi Chinmoku."

The band has been playing the selections from the new album for just several months, but, as usual with them, the new songs have already started to transform. Many numbers have extended with improvisations and arranged differently. So it's nice for regular attendees of their gigs to witness how the songs gradually "grow" in person.

Their show never be same. Even they have abandoned pre-configured set-list long time ago. And they do a lot of improvisation. Therefore each performance gives different, unique experience.

Tonight the band plays at Rag, a jazz club in Kyoto.

Naruhodo video

Makigami Koichi just released a video of "Naruhodo," a cut from their new album Ikitekoi Chinmoku [Silence Be Alive] on YouTube.

It contains footage of the band's recent tours in Altai Republic and Okinawa.

New Album Tour, May 2015

For supporting the new album, Hikashu will tour chubu and kansai regions this month. The dates are as follows:


May 13 - Freakyshow, Shizuoka
May 14 - Tokuzo, Nagoya
May 15 - Compass, Namba, Osaka
May 16 - Tower Records, Namba, Osaka
May 17 - Rag, Kyoto
May 18 - Chicken George, Kobe
May 19 - Old Time, Wakayama


There's a lot of new merchantise available as well. Collect'em all!

May 13, 2015
@ Freakyshow
Shizuoka
open 19:00 - start 19:30
other acts: steteko, daichu
adv 3,000 yen - at door 3,500 yen
freakyshow.net

Freakyshow, Shizuoka



May 14, 2015
@ Tokuzo
Nagoya
open 18:30 - start 19:30
adv 3,600 yen - at door 4,000 yen
tokuzo.com

Tokuzo, Nagoya



May 15, 2015
@ Conpass
Namba, Osaka
open 18:00 - start 19:00
adv 4,000 yen
conpass.jp

Conpass, Namba, Osaka



May 16, 2015
"autograph signing session + live performance"
@Tower Records Namba
Namba, Osaka
start 15:00
admission free
buy the new album and get it autographed.

Tower Record Namba, Osaka



May 17, 2015
@ Rag
Kyoto
open 18:00 - start 19:00
adv 4,000 yen - at door 4,500 yen
ragnet.co.jp

Rag, Kyoto



May 18, 2015
@ Chicken George
Kobe
open 19:00 - start 19:30
adv 4,000 yen - at door 4,500 yen
chicken-george.co.jp

Chicken George, Kobe



May 19, 2015
@ Old Time
Wakayama
open 19:00 - start 19:30
other act: Teramachi Street Band
adv 3,000 yen - at door 3,500 yen
first-take.co.jp/oldtime

Old Time, Wakayama

Two Okinawa dates in April

As we earlier noted, Hikashu's Russia tour in April does not happen. So there's a big hole in their schedule around that time. But they acted swiftly and secured two dates in Okinawa, the southern island of Japan.

Okinawa has been popular for tourists, famous for its nature and culture but the band's fan there had been unfortunate for a long, long time because they had never have an opportunity to see the band.

That's no longer the case because Hikashu did pay a visit and perform in Okinawa last year, the first time ever for their 36 years of existence. The band enjoyed the island and expressed to revisit soon. And they are true to their words; Hikashu performs in Okinawa on April 1 and 3.


April 1, 2015
@ MODS
Chatan, Okinawa
open 19:00 - start 20:00
adv 3,000 yen - at door 3,500 yen
livehousemods.com

Mods, Chatan, Okinawa



April 3, 2015
@ Output
Naha, Okinawa
open 19:30 - start 20:00
adv 3,000 yen - at door 3,500 yen
outputop.com

Output, Naha, Okinawa

Current: March 2015 - The Russia Tour, Dance Music Series, Faith No More

Hikashu in Russia, 2014
The Russia Tour is to be rescheduled

The Russia Tour, originally scheduled in April, has been postponed for some reasons.

But it's NOT entirely cancelled. The band says it slates for this fall. Russia has been an important country for them because there's a solid fan base which is gradually but steadily growing.
The decision must be hard one to make but seemingly inevitable. Anyway, the band is looking forward to visiting the great northern country again.


Reissue project continues

Right now almost all the albums of Hikashu has been available as remastered edition, but some are still not see the light of day unfortunately.

For example, in middle 1980s the band recorded some music for ballet, fashion show, and contemporary dance, but unfortunately, just a portion of them were released on vinyl - "Nanimo Kamo Odore"  "Soba de Yokereba" and "Watashi No Tanoshimi." Among them, only "Watashi No Tanoshimi" [My Pleasure] was reissued on CD in 2012.

So how about the other albums, moreover, unreleased material? It has been known there's a ton of them in the vault.

And maybe it's high time to say rest assured because, although there's no official announcement yet, the band has been saying that they're working on the material for reissue on and off, and it will be released later this year at last.

The remastered edition of "Watashi No Tanoshimi" was a great example of reissue. The sound quality has been vastly improved (and the vinyl edition was picture disc - very enjoyable for eyes but sound quality-wise it's simply inferior). And as bonus tracks, it has some leftovers from the same period - all very interesting, from the viewpoint on both music and the band's history. For example, one of them is from the very first studio session of the line-up including bass player Sakaide Masami who then just joined the band.

And easily we could expect that the rest of the material receives similar treatment - remastered, re-sequenced, and includes related outtakes. Just can't wait.


Makigami and Faith No More

In February, Makigami made an appearance at a Faith No More gig in Tokyo. When the band hit an encore, Mike Patton announced there's a special guest. Of course it was Makigami and he did some khoomei. It was quite a surprise, and the audience went frenzy.