A soulful saxophone player, Hisao Tanoshiro is based out of Sapporo.
We interviewed Tanoshiro, who, on December 12, held a live concert he called a "Christmas Present", taking the audience to a different world of music.
Interviewer: Toshiya Kubo (ICC Chief Coordinator)
The interview took place the night after Tanoshiro's concert.
- You had a great show last night.
Last night's concert was a "Christmas Present" to express my appreciation for having played music here in Hokkaido for 12 years. I am a musician, and I always want people to enjoy the best music.
- I was completely blown away by your performance. Did you rehearse many times?
(laughing) Actually, we only rehearsed once. I have complete trust in the members, so we met once last week, and that was it. We did make some mistakes during the performance, but the musicians all knew and had fun with it. (laughing) We decided to let go of the ropes and have fun up there. .
- We felt the relaxed atmosphere. The performance felt like it had elements of rock.
Right. Last night was more or less rock. A lot of orthodox jazz comes from Sapporo, so live music like last night must have been a rare thing for everybody.
- As a musician, what sort of place is Sapporo to you?
There are a lot of hip-hop and club parties in Sapporo, and many people show up to those events. On the other hand, there aren't as many places for adults to go out and play.
I think we need to broaden the listeners, including the adults, base of music.
I think there's a need to create situations in which people can say, "I've never heard this music," or, "What genre is this music?" I've also done things like getting paired up with a local FM station to create new music and gather more listeners.
The group performed a piece written 20 years ago. They used the original sheet music.
- So last night was your suggestion for a new style of music?
That's right. I wanted people to hear that "you can play this kind of music with these band members."
I mentioned that we need to "broaden the base of people's music" earlier, but it's also a challenge for the musicians and specialists.
There are experts in rock, jazz, funk, chanson, or any other genre, but there is no way for them to easily connect.
Someone has to become that connection, and I'd like to be that person.
With the band members
- What sort of seeds are you planting these days?
Last year, some farmers in Hokkaido got together to form the "Art Farmers Band".
The band is made up of farmers that get together on their off-season to play jazz and fusion.
I help them practice, and it's very interesting.
Using music as a tool, we play together, and have the opportunity to talk about farming and the environment as well.
I consider this to be my life work, and I enjoy it very much. As I continued this work, an affiliate company of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications contacted me, saying they would like me to continue the same efforts with eight schools.
They saw my website and thought my efforts were intriguing, so they asked me to try it elsewhere.
- I like the part about "using music as a tool".
I think you can turn music into a tool.
It maybe that this is what's needed most by creators right now. It doesn't help them make any money, though. (laughing)
Of course, Show-Biz is also necessary. People have to make money to eat.
Still, I don't think it's enough for musicians and the music industry to simply make music and sell it.
Even if you're poor, to sing a song and feel happiness, that's what's important. I think it's time to shift our values.
"I can't, it's too hard," will get us nowhere.
I also think the artist's role in creating this change will be very important.
Tanoshiro, the seed-planter, in the moment he feels happiness.
- Won't that take tremendous courage?
True, it takes courage to enter a genre that is unknown.
Courage to accept a mismatch is also needed, if something really doesn't work.
I'd like the young creators and artists to have that courage and progress forward.
The kind of performance that excites an audience.
- Thank you for sharing such an exciting topic with us. Finally, what do you hope for Sapporo and Hokkaido in the future?
We first need to create a foundation for musicians to make a solid living.
Sapporo has a population of 1.9 million, so musicians need to be able to make a living at that scale.
For this to happen, we need to broaden the base of people's understanding of music.
I'd like to continue to create new genres and types of music never seen before, and share it with the world.
Tanoshiro greets audience members at the concert.
Writing: Eiichi Sato
Translation: David Neptune
