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When talking with Hoppy Kamiyama it seems entirely natural that the conversation should turn to the subject of why Hungarians place their surnames before their given names, just like the Japanese.
Kamiyama, a key figure in the Japanese indie/underground music scene, is talking about the many similarities between the culture and people of the central European nation and Japan.
“They’re basically an Asian people in the middle of Europe,” says Kamiyama over a cup of cocoa in a coffee shop in Tokyo’s Shibuya district. He thinks that might be why he’s so attracted to the music of modern Hungarian composers like his No. 1 fave, Bela Bartok.
The subject of Hungarian music has come up in a typically labyrinthine, multi-tangential chat with Kamiyama about his most recent album, A Meaningful Meaninglessness.
Kamiyama’s unpredictable, eclectic music matches his conversational style. A Meaningful Meaninglessness is all over the place musically, with elements of rock, jazz, avant-garde neo-classical and uncategorizable sonic weirdness bursting out of the speakers like the explosion of an auditory cluster bomb.
Kamiyama’s previous forays into the realm of “serious” music include performances of his string quartets and solo piano pieces. A Meaningful Meaninglessness is his first full-scale orchestral piece.
“Sometimes I play in orchestras for J-pop recording sessions, or for TV and films,” says Kamiyama. “But I couldn’t do this kind of project myself, because hiring an orchestra takes a huge budget.”
Although in musical terms Kamiyama is resolutely post-modern, he’s a traditionalist when it comes to composing, eschewing the alleged convenience of writing the score on a computer in favour of the traditional pen-and-paper method.
“It’s the old-fashioned way of writing,” he says. “I want to express the soul of my music through my hands, my fingers. When I use a computer, pressing all the buttons on the keyboard, my imagination leaves me.”
Imagination, as opposed to commercial viability, melodiousness or trendiness, is the most important element in all of Kamiyama’s music, whether it’s the (relatively) straight-ahead rock of the Pugs or the jarringly bizarre avant-lounge music of O*N*T*J, aka Olivia* New*Ton*John. When playing live with those bands Kamiyama cuts a decidedly odd figure, wearing a tacky evening dress, blonde wig, heavy black mascara, thick white pancake make-up and a green feather boa. It’s safe to say that Kamiyama is Japan’s best transvestite keyboardist/band leader.
Sipping his cocoa on a cold autumn day in Shibuya, he looks relatively normal, although the glow in his eyes speaks of the musical passion that since the early 90s has seen Kamiyama embark on any number of out-of-left-field musical projects and set up his own label, God Mountain (the literal translation of his surname).
Recent God Mountain releases include albums by rock band the Spoozys (CE-III), a 20th-anniversary album by chanteuse Jun Togawa (20th Jun Togawa), and a collection of tracks by artists from Okinawa’s alternative-music scene (Hasshe Sogasai Ura Ryukyu).
A Meaningful Meaninglessness was written for various different instruments, including two turntables. It’s a dense, challenging sound collage that recalls pieces such as 200 Motels and Wakajawaka by Frank Zappa, who along with Bartok is another of Kamiyama’s idols. A la Zappa, it also includes surreal spoken-word interludes by longtime Kamiyama collaborator Dennis Gunn.
"My idea was to mix up all sorts of musical ideas," says Kamiyama. And mix it up he does, as the album moves all over the musical map, with Kamiyama’s highly individualistic sense of sonic anarchy and playfulness underlying it all.
The album, released by the Creage label, which is operated by Yamaha Corp.'s digital media business development division, comes with a DVD featuring animation set to Kamiyama’s music.
Kamiyama hopes to perform A Meaningful Meaninglessness live in concert next spring. “I'm going to assemble over 50 musicians as the ‘God Mountain Orchestra’ if I can,” he says enthusiastically. “I’m very excited about this crazy concert!”
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