｜ 1：Introduction ｜ 2：The explanation of each photograph ｜ 3：Interview & Column ｜
3：Interview & Column
P.122 Interview - T. Ishihara (the president of Brand New Made Inc.)
P.124 Column - Hironobu Nishi (the president of 'Amami-michi-no-Shimadaigo')
P.125 Column - Ree.K (DJ)
P.126 Column - Takuo Yamada (R-ryoiki / R type L)
p.122
After Amami Total Eclipse
text by T. Ishihara (the president of Brand New Made Inc.)
- To begin with, what motivated you to plan the Amami Total Solar Eclipse Music Festival?
Brand New Made Inc. specializes in producing parties and festivals, not only do we emphasize in upcoming artists, we believe that the event’s concept is decisive in keeping the festival alive. As you may recall Newyork’s Body & Soul party event style which was brought to Tokyo, the party style is a thing of the past back in Newyork, but still goes on in Tokyo after 9 years. Another long lived conceptualized music festical is the Nagisa Music Festival, a multi-genre festival that has been held for over 8 years with over 200 thousand partakers focused in the close vicinities of the metropolis areas.
With that being said, it was in 2004 when our producer/director Iitoyo, mentioned the total solar eclipse, and how it would hold the longest totality of the century. Soon after realizing that the Amami Islands would be in the antumbra, in 2005, we went on a company holiday to the islands and declared without further ado that we would hold the Amami Total Solar Eclipse Music Festival.
- How did you advance in the progress from 2004 to 2009?
So we found the seemingly perfect spot, but it was too remote from where we were,
and the mode and means of transportation would become a hurdle. On top of that we still had to convince the locality to gain their trust and permission to hold the festival. We decided to participate in the island’s traditional summer festivals of dance and musical drum culture. In time we began to talk about the plans to the locality of Amami and it was difficult to convey a picture of what we wanted to accomplish. It was until 2006 when we held the Solar Eclipse Countdown Festival and number of our visits to the island had increased that we began to receive more supporters, whom of which some visited Tokyo and Osaka to perform and share their music and dance culture.
- What was the most difficult trial in this phase?
Well, the total costs and the expected partakers in the festival did not make ends meet. The estimation was the most vital and determining factor for the entire festival, a 9 day music festival. We had to base our planning on these numbers to prepare food and drink, tents, and tables. It was almost impossible to run the numbers so we ended up preparing for more people than we actually hosted.
Accommodation for the staff members who spent more or less a month at the islands was more costly than we could have anticipated. Staff had to be hired in rotation on the 9 days of the festival, which was over 240 hours. A team had to be allocated at the headquarters as well in case any thing happened, the assistants and volunteers, and a standby doctor and nurses included, all and all somewhere around 9,000 meals were catered for our people.
Not to forget the heat, in the summer the localities of Amami island themselves hardly work in height of the day’s heat, but we had no choice. The schedule was tight and the conditions severe.
- How did you react to the threats posed by venomous Okinawa Habu snakes?
2 days before the festival, a snake specialist from Amami public health center came
and inspected the area for Habu snakes. He openly joked that it would be a miracle if nobody got bit in the deep forest where the festival would take place. He also reminded those who didn’t know already that a bite from the Habu snake would kill a person in half an hour. And that is how I spent the entire festival, worrying if anyone would get bit, luckily no one did.
- What did you find most compelling after holding the music festival?
I have to say the partakers who came from afar and having expressed that, “It was the most spectacular experience so far”.
Also I have to give credit to everyone who made it possible, the staff team, technicians for the sound, lights, and decorations. It was the night after the solar eclipse when DJ Tsuyoshi was on, the lightning was flashing, and the shades on the main stage were flickering, and we thought the stage would crumble at the intensity of the thunder and lightning.
- How do you feel that the skies were clouded at the moment of the eclipse?
To be honest, I personally have witnessed a solar eclipse 3 times in my life. I
would give this solar eclipse 3 out of 10. Yes, the festival would have been even more amazing if we had could of seen the eclipse clearer, but if it was just the eclipse, then there were other spots to be to be able to see it. It was more than just the eclipse, it was the time we spent together living in tents in the deep nature, people from all over who shared the love for music and natural phenomena.
The fact that the solar eclipse did not entirely fulfill our expectations left others who vowed to chase the next solar eclipse to the Easter Islands and to Cairns in the outback of Australia. I believe that it’s the motives and actions that are most important.
- Do you have any reflections now of the Amami Total Solar Eclipse Music Festival?
I am more than gratified to able to have worked toward the Amami Total Solar
Eclipse Music Festival through a precious network of people. In a sense we were all drawn
into the awe of the island and the warmth of each other. It was a welcome miracle that there weren’t any cases of Habu snake bites. The festival had left a positive image without any cases of illicit drug abuse.
- How do you feel about the direction of outdoor music festivals in the future?
I fear that outdoor parties and raves in Japan will be prohibited due to the incidents that have happened recently. The police will take constraining measures to assure that not only participants, but the producers take full responsibilities and make efforts to prevent any further incidents. Taking that into account the conventional rave will be altered indefinitely. The substance of the music scene will undergo modifications under regulations. Incidents at raves have occurred for the past 10 years, stricter regulations are inevitable. Having said that, I have to assure you that the music festival scene in Japan has evolved, in the quality and diversity of music as well as in the forms of lifestyles; free space and workshops where children can also participate, and cultural contributions can be made in the localities. The style of the music festival will adapt with the inevitable stricter regulations.
- Finally, Mr. Ishihara, what is your definition of party?
My life. Parties are my business, a business I protect as I do my family and the staff. I have to entertain experienced prospectus party goers and the new especially those who have funded the parties ever since. I take my job seriously. The party or festival needs to have a ring to the concept and the quality of music has to be up to standards. I personally go to parties around the world, I drink and dance as well. My job is also my lifestyle. I never forget whenever and wherever I am to enjoy myself.
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p.124
Reflecting on Amami Total Solar Eclipse Music Festival
text by Hironobu Nishi (the president of 'Amami-michi-no-Shimadaigo')
I clearly remember the first time I heard, “There will be a solar eclipse in 3 years time.”
I found out that the total solar eclipse would occur in July the 22nd of 2009, the longest totality duration of the century, and the Amami Islands would be one of the observation spots. In 2006, a countdown party was held in Kasaricho.
Being a devoted participant in the traditional cultural events of the island, I was intrigued
with the idea. Honestly, I wasn’t sure about the modern music scene, such as techno, trance and dance music, and I had doubted if our traditional drum music and dance would blend with modern genres in the festival. As more dialogues were exchanged with the producers of the music festival, I became more excited at the fact that our island would host the festival for the world. I was enthusiastic to help support the cause. My heart was out with the dedicated staff members who worked hard to set up the scene.
In 2006, we performed in the opening of the countdown music festival, with traditional drum music, singing and dancing. We became one with the gathered mass. I also found myself moving to the beat of techno and trance that wrapped nature and sound into dance. I had never experienced such vigor and vitality, and I began to anticipate the main event to come in the next 3 years, where there would be visitors from all over Japan and the globe. With every countdown party after that each year, more and more people began to catch interest and realize the possibilities of engaging with diverse visitors to the island. In that sense, we also wanted to share our music culture, so we performed in the Nagisa Music Festival in Tokyo and Osaka. The hachi-gatsu odori folk dance we performed began with one circle, and then another by our performers, and finally a third circle was joined with by the audience. This was a symbolic step in promoting the solar eclipse as well as the Amami Island and its cultures. We had never been so proud of our culture, radiant with confidence and pride; our culture had been revived again.
The time soon came for the main event in 2009. The scale of the event was magnificent. I was privileged to host some of the staff members who had been residing on the island for a month in preparations for the festival. I had frequent deep conversations of traditions and culture over sake. I began to see the island differently. I was born in one of the smallest islands in the world, and the century’s longest solar eclipse had brought together the world and a timeless experience under music and a natural phenomenon. I was honored to be part of the creation of the Amami Total Solar Music Festival. The music festival’s opening ceremony began with a performance of traditional drum music. I hold the experience dear, since my wife and son also performed beside me. Of all the years I had performed, I had never been more moved and inspired.
I am honored and proud of my heritage as the world had come to celebrate a turning event in history under the shared interest and love of music. I thank each and every one who was involved, and all who visited.
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p.125
My First Solar Eclipse Experience
text by Ree.K (DJ)
I was first asked if I would be interested in helping out at a music festival in the Amami Islands in 2006. I was more interested to find out how it would be possible to prepare for a music festival in Amami in the summer under the heat, and with regards to convincing the island’s municipality to accept. I had done everything in my capacity to support the realization of the Amami Total Solar Music Festival, but I faced a dilemma right before the festival, I wasn’t sure where I’d be until I got the timetable. A friend of mine was having another party in the adjacent Kikaijima Island, and on the same Amami Island another friend was hosting a private party at one of the camp sites.
Eventually I received the timetable. I was on 3 hours before the eclipse, right before System7 from England. It seemed that I was given the most important time frame.
It was my first solar eclipse. I had heard from friends who had experienced one utter the amazement. I kept wondering what would happen to me when the solar eclipse manifested. The sea is raised a few centimeters from a full moon’s gravitational pull; during which even the particles in our bodies are pulled at; celestial planets separated by vast empty space pull at each other. Would an alignment of the sun, moon and the earth cause gravitational attractions? I know of a friend’s friend who refused to leave the house despite the fact that they were extremely excited to witness the eclipse because they were not spiritually ready on the day.
From now on, if I experience a solar eclipse, I will envision the solar eclipse pull at all the negative particles in my body and mind, neutralize and then release it into positively charged particles.
In the end I decided to stay close around the area, but again, I wasn’t sure if I should experience the eclipse with the mass crowd or in solidarity. I finished my DJ performance without any big technical difficulties, and walked to my tent moments before the eclipse. As I walked towards my tent there was a staff member waving a pair of eclipse sunglasses, I put them on and looked into the sun to see a thin ring around a black sphere.
At that moment my mind was blown away and I don’t remember if I oohed or aahed for how long. DJ Tsuyoshi tapped my back, and one of the members of Dachambo came crying, “You came, you came”, and we all hurdled and hugged. I had never felt so much alive or the heightened sensation of joy as much as I did then. And as I glanced across the crowd I could see a glitter of light in each and every one. The moment was elevated with the oscillating waves from the sounds System7 was igniting in the air. There must have been over a thousand people gathered at the beach.
As the sun slowly waned the crowd fell into a silent calm. You could feel the change in heat, the blowing wind had ceased, and the sun was in a total solar eclipse, but the diamond ring wasn’t seen. There were at least 3 couples proposing marriage then.
Now I am back to my every day ordinary life, but there is one thing that I realized; the moment of the eclipse did not positively charge all the negative particles in my body as I visualized, it only showed me that the negative and the positive are one. I realized that the balance is what is important. Our lives are accumulated by moments, and instead of trying to decide which road to take next, you should enjoy the next moment that would be the then ‘now’. Live the moment with gratitude.
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p.126
Transparent Beauty of Amami in a Summer’s Dream
text by Takuo Yamada (R-ryoiki / R type L)
Amami Island? Why should we and why did we in this generation put our efforts to realize a music festival in a tiny island along the antumbra of a total solar eclipse? Especially in this gloomy generation, we chased a concept into the transparent simplicity of the island.
We, the team that did the construction and arts decoration, were the first here and spent almost a month in preparations. We swam in the ocean, caught fish, as we carried out the fieldwork and worked amongst the villagers. It was an experience where we could feel the magnificence of the island through our senses, and the value of the island’s nature became clearer as we spent more time on the island. I was merged into the perfect setting, the nature, the islander’s warmth, the traditions and culture of the island, the solar eclipse, and the music festival; I was sure this would be a legend.
They would speak of a natural phenomenon that called onto many from afar who worked to realize the greatest music festivals in the history of Japan.
The success and accomplishment of this music festival is the key that will keep this movement alive. The energy shared together with those people that came from all over the world was like the energy from the sun itself. An intention that sprung up from an occurrence of a natural phenomenon, the coincidence and the simplicity, was the reason for many to gather. I would say that the solar eclipse was like the soccer world cup of the world’s music festivals. People drawn from different backgrounds and sects, to one objective, living and helping each other to see one day go by.
I don’t know if I will make it to see the eclipse in the Easter Islands, but I will definitely try to make it to the solar eclipse in Australia in 2012. This is an epic pilgrimage for me and it is as if time will sow together the story. It’s where dreams and reality meet, a game where you bet and gain the promises of tomorrow. The story evolves and expands not only to the sun, but into the galaxies and beyond. We were only given the opportunity to participate in fragment of the story.
My experience of the solar eclipse itself at that time was not beyond or disappointing of my imagination, I was rather captivated by the simplicity of it all. I did look out for a stir of animals and birds, but it seemed calm from that side. Although we were unable to see the diamond ring, the truth that we were all there focusing on the same display of nature’s cycle was pure and the day was satisfying to know that we had shared and were bound to the forces of life. I do still hope to see the next diamond ring.
In the scourging heat, the deep forests and undisturbed beach that became the stage of this episode, where the staff and local islanders took the trouble, pains and labor to create a commemorable music festival. I was also able to tone my body after all the hard labor. It was a truly an unforgettable occasion, especially the days under the clear summer skies where we danced in laughter.
I would like to thank everyone. Bless life, music, festivities and art.
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