Description

The venue was an unnaturally white-painted space with a flat floor on the 13th floor of a fairly nice cultural facility in Kita-ku called Kita-Topia, which is probably used for conferences or parties usually. He collaborated with three lively musicians: contrabassist Keizo Mizoiri, pianist and percussionist Masato Kouchi, and flutist Dougen Kinowaki who was also active in Ensemble Nomad. When people talk about “contemporary music,” they tend to assume that it has already passed its prime, but these artists overturned such preconception. The performance was an entirely improvisational work; Murobushi stood still, cutting through the space with his perpetual power of appeal, then spoke glossolalia as if ashamed by his own act before. And what’s more, he halted immediately after he jumped and shook the ground with his landing, forcing the audience’s eyes to fix on the contortion of his toes, or boldly beating the wall with his back otherwise. That is to say, it was a performance of a contrast between condensation and fluid, tension and slackness. His performance style apparently differs from that of the era of Dairakudakan to Sebi, yet the showmanship in Hijikata’s “Revolt of The Body” that had fascinated him was constantly alive throughout the performance.

(Y.O)

translation

Ikuya Odamaki