Wild, crazy and highly entertaining Afrirampo have quickly made an impact in Japan and abroad. The young female duo hails from Osaka, a city known for its lack of restraint and hearty sense of humor. Afrirampo indeed have been described as filling “a long-standing idiot savant gap on the Osaka underground scene”. Guitarist/ vocalist Oni and drummer/vocalist Pika (sometimes listed as Pikacyu) first teamed up in May of 2002, when they were both still teenagers. They first played together during a loose jam held in a park near Osaka Castle, which mostly involved drumming and dancing. Today they perform dressed in red, which theoretically enhances their senses, and with their faces heavily made-up. Even though the musical training is, in their words “for small”, they manage to drag all sorts of sounds out of their instruments and do so with boundless energy. Somehow they manage to be both cute and barbaric at the same time. Afrirampo it seems largely improvise their performances, often very noisily, giving their steadily growing audience the impression that anything may happen next. By August 2003 their reputation was such that they were getting bookings in the States. In June of 2004 Afrirampo decided to move to Cameroon for three months and live amongst researchers and Pygmy tribespeople. This jungle bound experience further inspired them to have open minds and to play with abandon. In August they returned to tour the US with Lightning Bolt, and then toured in Europe...
Read More
Wild, crazy and highly entertaining Afrirampo have quickly made an impact in Japan and abroad. The young female duo hails from Osaka, a city known for its lack of restraint and hearty sense of humor. Afrirampo indeed have been described as filling “a long-standing idiot savant gap on the Osaka underground scene”. Guitarist/ vocalist Oni and drummer/vocalist Pika (sometimes listed as Pikacyu) first teamed up in May of 2002, when they were both still teenagers. They first played together during a loose jam held in a park near Osaka Castle, which mostly involved drumming and dancing. Today they perform dressed in red, which theoretically enhances their senses, and with their faces heavily made-up. Even though the musical training is, in their words “for small”, they manage to drag all sorts of sounds out of their instruments and do so with boundless energy. Somehow they manage to be both cute and barbaric at the same time. Afrirampo it seems largely improvise their performances, often very noisily, giving their steadily growing audience the impression that anything may happen next. By August 2003 their reputation was such that they were getting bookings in the States. In June of 2004 Afrirampo decided to move to Cameroon for three months and live amongst researchers and Pygmy tribespeople. This jungle bound experience further inspired them to have open minds and to play with abandon. In August they returned to tour the US with Lightning Bolt, and then toured in Europe with Sonic Youth. Oni and Pica also made friends with many of Japan’s most far out musicians, including legendary weirdo
Keiji Haino, Jojo Hiroshige of Hijokaidan, former Boredom Toyohito Yoshikawa, Munehiro Narita of High Rise, and especially Acid Mothers Temple . Acid Mothers Temple in fact released some of Afrirampo’s early recordings on their indie label AMT. Afrirampo also released a mini album on Osaka indie Gyunne in July 2004, and have a few even more obscure releases, some released as by “A”. And of course cuts on albums released in Poland. In April 2005 Afrirampo released their first full album,
URUSAINJAPAN, on Kioon/Sony. They also have the album
Kore Ga Mayaku Da (This Is The Drug) available in the States on John Zorn’s Tzadik label.
Collapse
