The Crossroads of the Heartbeat: A Quarter Century of Music Chronicled by Kiyohiko Senba and Ponta (1970s-2000s)

The Crossroads of the Heartbeat: A Quarter Century of Music Chronicled by Kiyohiko Senba and Ponta (1970s-2000s)

1. childhood and inheritance of traditional music
Kiyohiko Senba, whose father is Kosuke Senba, the head of the Senba school of Japanese traditional music, began practicing the tsuzumi (hand drum) at the age of three. He inherited the techniques of kotsuzumi and taiko drums used in Kabuki and Noh plays since the Edo period, and made his stage debut at the age of 10 as a Kabuki musician.

At the time (1960s), Japan was in the midst of its rapid economic growth, and urbanization and westernization were progressing. While television and vinyl records dominated the culture of the common people, traditional performing arts tended to be regarded as "old-fashioned. As if to buck the trend, Senba absorbed traditional arts as a young man and laid the foundation for fusing them with modern music in later years.

2. intersection of Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music and contemporary music (1970s)
He studied at the Department of Traditional Japanese Music, Faculty of Music, Tokyo University of the Arts, where he was awarded the Ataka Prize while still a student. In parallel with his exquisite Japanese traditional music techniques, he also developed an interest in Western music, jazz, and improvised music.

In 1978, he joined the fusion band THE SQUARE (now T-SQUARE). At the time, the crossover/fusion trend was taking off in Japan, and Sadao Watanabe, Masayoshi Takanaka, Cassiopeia, and others were leading the era. Senba made his presence felt in the midst of this trend with his unique approach of bringing in the sensibility of Japanese percussion instruments.

Encounter with Shuichi "Ponta" Murakami
Kiyohiko Senba and Shuichi "Ponta" Murakami are known as two giant stars of percussion in the music world. Ponta, a darling of the jazz fusion world and "the busiest drummer in Japan," and Senba, a Kabuki-trained Japanese musician, have completely different backgrounds, but they have crossed paths many times at recording sites and in sessions.

In one episode at a recording session, the two musicians began playing almost without discussing their performance, but their rhythms seemed to be drawn together. Senba describes the moment as "the rhythms melded together in the back of my brain. Ponta also marveled at Senba's free-spirited percussion, saying, "It's so great that it's funny.

The encounter between the two was a stimulating spark that further broadened their respective musical lives: form and improvisation, notation and sensibility, tradition and avant-garde.

4. the "haniwa all-stars" and the melting pot of music (1980s)
In 1982, he formed his own band, the "Haniwa All Stars. This multinational group of musicians, which included Akiko Yano, Akira Sakata, and Mamaro Misawa, developed a sound that blended jazz, rock, folk, and Japanese music.

In the 1980s, techno and world music were on the rise in Japan, and experimental music such as YMO was attracting attention. Haniwa's sound was perceived as a "chaos of miscellaneous things" that lay further along the edge of the techno world, and it gained a cult following.

5. turning to Asia and reintegration (1990s-2000s)
From 1998, as leader of the Asian Fantasy Orchestra, he toured in Thailand, Vietnam, Korea, and other Asian countries. He performed with traditional musicians from each country and explored the resonance between different cultures through his performances.

In 2000, he formed the percussion avant-unit "SEMBA SONIC SPEAR. Their unique performance, which included the use of tea cups, buckets, and old tires, was described as "more a festival of sound than music.

6. "Kiyohiko SEMBA and the CALGAMOODS" activities up to the present
Kiyohiko Senba currently leads 23 percussionists in "Kiyohiko Senba and the Cargamozes. While sublimating musical experiments into live festivals, his creative sense of drawing sounds out of everyday items has influenced many musicians.

He also teaches young percussionists at HOT MUSIC SCHOOL, etc., and continues to pass on not only his techniques but also his "spirit of playing with sound.

7. explanation of representative music
Sicilian rumba (during THE SQUARE period):
This is the origin of the Senba style hybrid, mixing salsa and Latin rhythms with the percussion sounds of Japanese instruments. It is a rare composition in which kotsuzumi and taiko drums assert themselves amidst Western instruments, and can be considered the prototype for the later "haniwa" style.

Haniwa Bon Odori (Haniwa All Stars):
The combination of traditional folk phrases and modern synthesizers is exquisite. Senba says, "I regenerated it into a form that is not unchanged but can be danced to and passed down from generation to generation. It is also a standard song for live performances with audience participation.

Dahako (Calgamo's):
A masterpiece that shines with its unique rhythmic structure, in which a rush of sound and silence alternately assault the audience. This piece embodies Senba's spirit of incorporating even the sounds of water and wind into percussion instruments. The production, which was completely synchronized with the stage lighting, was also a topic of conversation.

Relationship with the Historical Background
Kiyohiko Senba's career has been deeply related to the transition of Japanese culture from the postwar period to the early 21st century. The postwar neglect of traditional performing arts, the rise of fusion/world music in the 1970s and 1980s, the reapproach to Asian culture in the 1990s and beyond, and the borderlessness of the 2000s.

In all these phases, he has chosen "variation" rather than "inheritance. By combining traditional percussion instruments with Western music, improvisation, and electronic sounds, he has created new fields of expression in the gaps between the eras.

His encounter with Shuichi Murakami "Ponta" was one of the events that further accelerated this variation. The "rhythms at the crossroads" that they created are still pushing the backs of many musicians.

Related information (links omitted)
HOT MUSIC SCHOOL (Kiyohiko Semba's profile)
X (former Twitter) Kiyohiko Senba's official account
Related videos and sound files of "HANIWA ALL STARS", "SEMBA SONIC SPEAR", and "CALGAMOOZE".
Live and studio recordings with Shuichi Murakami "Ponta" (in various magazines and sound sources)