THE SECOND ROOM
Nagisa Music Festival breaks open 2007 season
The Nagisa Music Festival is one of the most interesting success stories to emerge from the Tokyo dance party scene. Held semiannually and in its fourth year, this psychedelic phoenix took flight during 2003, out of the rubble of our worst year ever.
2003 was the hangover from overdoing things the year before. Venue changes and event cancellations for lack of permit were all too common. The backlash affected affairs like Solstice Music Festival, The Gathering and incidentally, Harukaze, the legendary Yoyogi Park day raves that Nagisa has handily replaced. Noise, litter, congestion, confusion. Officialdom can always find a way to trump the party people.
It was beginning to look like our traditional equinoctial dances inside Tokyo were doomed to the past when three brilliant producers brought their monster networks of resources together. Takashi Ishihara, who founded clubberia.com and brand new made Inc., Masaru Morita of M.M.Delight, and “Nanbei” Suzuki of Earth Garden set out to make something different that would still fit within the strict requirements of the system.
The result is a constantly evolving open-air festival spread over two days that is grounded in Earth-friendly ideas fusing dance music from the house, techno, trance, reggae, jam, rock and ambient genres as close to the center of Tokyo with the lowest possible admission price.
This year, the electricity for all the stages at Nagisa will be generated by bio-diesel, created by refined second-hand vegetable oil. Past years have seen success in attempts to run the whole show on solar power.
Nagisa means “beach,” but Odaiba Open Court, which faces the impressive Fuji Television building on the man-made island has become the party’s home. This is thanks in large part to backing from Tokyo Waterfront City Development. Open court is more of a desert than a beach, but it has the space to set up seven stages and all room needed to feed, quench and relieve large crowds of ravenous young people.
Headlining Nagisa this year are progressive rock legends System7 on Saturday, and Detroit techno originator Derrick May and psychedelic trance pioneer Hallucinogen on Sunday. Supporting them on their timetables are names that represent the heart of Japan’s dance scene crop: Masa and Ree.K of Space Gathering, Ta-Ka of Mother Records Japan, Ryo of Solstice Music, Miki from Sirius Records and a host of others.
System7 is Steve Hillage and Miquette Giraudy, who released six albums together in the 1990s before forming their A-Wave record label in 2000. They have played in Japan every year since 1999.
Derrick May hasn’t released a track since 1992, taking a hard bent against the record industry, but his popularity as a DJ only seems to get stronger. The house and techno crowd will get plenty of Derrick this weekend, and you can find out where he’s playing at the clubberia Web site.
Down at the very base of the psychedelic trance family tree is Hallucinogen (Simon Posford), whose 1995 album “Twisted” is viewed by many as the start of the psy-trance genre. More of a Merlin figure than a hands-on father type, Posford’s influence is still the genius behind the best of what you are hearing today. Apart from the timeless magic of Hallucinogen, Posford’s base of revered fans grew exponentially when he formed Shpongle with psychelic godfather Raja Ram in the late 1990s.
Nagisa Music Festival will be held on Saturday (1 to 8 p.m.) and Sunday (9 a.m. to 8 p.m.) at Odaiba Open Court in Koto Ward. Day tickets at the gate are 4,000 yen. Complete information found on the Nagisa Music Festival Web site (www.nagisamusicfestival.jp/) or by calling (03) 5410-1470.
Nagisa Music Festival breaks open 2007 season
The Nagisa Music Festival is one of the most interesting success stories to emerge from the Tokyo dance party scene. Held semiannually and in its fourth year, this psychedelic phoenix took flight during 2003, out of the rubble of our worst year ever.
2003 was the hangover from overdoing things the year before. Venue changes and event cancellations for lack of permit were all too common. The backlash affected affairs like Solstice Music Festival, The Gathering and incidentally, Harukaze, the legendary Yoyogi Park day raves that Nagisa has handily replaced. Noise, litter, congestion, confusion. Officialdom can always find a way to trump the party people.
It was beginning to look like our traditional equinoctial dances inside Tokyo were doomed to the past when three brilliant producers brought their monster networks of resources together. Takashi Ishihara, who founded clubberia.com and brand new made Inc., Masaru Morita of M.M.Delight, and “Nanbei” Suzuki of Earth Garden set out to make something different that would still fit within the strict requirements of the system.
The result is a constantly evolving open-air festival spread over two days that is grounded in Earth-friendly ideas fusing dance music from the house, techno, trance, reggae, jam, rock and ambient genres as close to the center of Tokyo with the lowest possible admission price.
This year, the electricity for all the stages at Nagisa will be generated by bio-diesel, created by refined second-hand vegetable oil. Past years have seen success in attempts to run the whole show on solar power.
Nagisa means “beach,” but Odaiba Open Court, which faces the impressive Fuji Television building on the man-made island has become the party’s home. This is thanks in large part to backing from Tokyo Waterfront City Development. Open court is more of a desert than a beach, but it has the space to set up seven stages and all room needed to feed, quench and relieve large crowds of ravenous young people.
Headlining Nagisa this year are progressive rock legends System7 on Saturday, and Detroit techno originator Derrick May and psychedelic trance pioneer Hallucinogen on Sunday. Supporting them on their timetables are names that represent the heart of Japan’s dance scene crop: Masa and Ree.K of Space Gathering, Ta-Ka of Mother Records Japan, Ryo of Solstice Music, Miki from Sirius Records and a host of others.
System7 is Steve Hillage and Miquette Giraudy, who released six albums together in the 1990s before forming their A-Wave record label in 2000. They have played in Japan every year since 1999.
Derrick May hasn’t released a track since 1992, taking a hard bent against the record industry, but his popularity as a DJ only seems to get stronger. The house and techno crowd will get plenty of Derrick this weekend, and you can find out where he’s playing at the clubberia Web site.
Down at the very base of the psychedelic trance family tree is Hallucinogen (Simon Posford), whose 1995 album “Twisted” is viewed by many as the start of the psy-trance genre. More of a Merlin figure than a hands-on father type, Posford’s influence is still the genius behind the best of what you are hearing today. Apart from the timeless magic of Hallucinogen, Posford’s base of revered fans grew exponentially when he formed Shpongle with psychelic godfather Raja Ram in the late 1990s.
Nagisa Music Festival will be held on Saturday (1 to 8 p.m.) and Sunday (9 a.m. to 8 p.m.) at Odaiba Open Court in Koto Ward. Day tickets at the gate are 4,000 yen. Complete information found on the Nagisa Music Festival Web site (www.nagisamusicfestival.jp/) or by calling (03) 5410-1470.
posted by DJO at 5:00 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home