One of the first places Junichiro ¡°John¡± Imaeda visited in Japan after spending three months in West Africa in 2008 was the Koenji Awa Odori, one of Tokyo¡¯s largest summer festivals. Seeing the dance troupes, musicians and revelers fill the streets after his trip triggered an aha moment.
¡°It made me realize that all humans share musical similarities, that we all have rhythms that we move to and share,¡± Imaeda recalls. ¡°I started Ajate after that.¡±
The 43-year-old Imaeda and eight other performers have used Ajate as a way to explore the intersection of West African melodies with Japan¡¯s festival-style sounds, which are powered by taiko (Japanese drums), shinobue (Japanese flute) and other traditionally local instruments. The group¡¯s latest album, ¡°,¡± offers a particularly ecstatic example of its ¡°Afrobayashi¡± ¡ª a portmanteau of ¡°Afrobeat¡± and ¡°´Ç-³ó²¹²â²¹²õ³ó¾±¡± (traditional Japanese music).
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