Journeys Guided by Sound

#Hopi #JAKAM #journeys guided by sound #JUZUakaMOOCHY #native american #Roadtrip #Trip #Music 2023.03.17

The last part

At this time, December 30.
It was cold.
The roads were icy all over, and for the first time ever, I slipped in my car, but there were no other cars at all, no artifacts at all.
I’m glad I’m safe.
Anyway, the harshness of the area is not conducive to a bad civilization.

Once again, about the Hopi.

Then we arrived at the home of Ruben Saufkie, the person we had hoped to visit. And then, I visited him unexpectedly.
(There was no way to make an appointment in advance…)

Asano and myself are immediately in interview mode, while the children enjoy playing video games in the children’s room with Ruben’s sons, even though they don’t speak the same language.

The family was quite surprised to have such an unusual visitor, but the most unusual thing was that it was the first time they had seen Japanese children.
This unexpectedly turned out to be an important point.

I was grateful once again that they responded so well to my visit without an appointment.

We all beat our ceremonial drums and prayed together.

After a while, the interview thing was over, and we got into the car to go home.

Once we left the house, it was December 31st.
We had not decided beforehand what else we would do on that day, and it was a long way to the motel where we could stay, and the children still wanted to play with other children, so we went back to the house to see if they would let us stay there or if there was someplace we could stay. Ruben’s children told him that we should bring the children and come.

So, without knowing why, we enter the basement at about 8:00 at night.

Absolutely no photography is allowed there.

At most, six or seven people in heavy costumes, like the Japanese namahage, dance as “spirits” on what appears to be a stage.
They are so-called “katsina dolls”.

The place itself smells like a beast, perhaps because it is an old place.
In a sense, the smell doubles the reality of the spirits.

The dances are not entertaining in any way, and are in minor tones, and the minor tones create a trance-like quality, but I felt a sense of mystery throughout the entire ritual, about 30 minutes per katsina.

Including our children, 2 to 30 people, mostly mothers and children, came to see the festival, and compared to the cold outside, the warmth of the people, the steam from the dancing spirits, and the humidity were strangely comfortable, and the Hopi people, except Ruben, spoke almost no English, or they didn’t speak English at all, and did not interfere in a good way with each other except with the children, which made us feel relaxed.

And our oldest son said.

“The faces are just like ours.”

This one word was as shocking as the aforementioned words of the woman at the store.

As mentioned earlier, there are many fearful spirits and ghosts in Japanese culture that are also connected to the Namahage.
In pre-Meiji Japan, there are many cultures that are also connected to the Hopi.

I once went to see and hear kagura in Miyazaki and Takachiho when I lived in Kyushu, but it was still an all-night dance.

Yes, we were completely connected and we were of the same ethnicity.
This reality had a great impact on my subsequent worldview.

If we go back thousands or tens of thousands of years, rather than thinking in terms of centuries, all races are connected beyond language and appearance.

It was a great learning experience.

The children have fallen asleep on my lap, and I leave that ritual place in the morning.

Over the next few days, on the way back to LA by car again, Asano, who accompanied me, wanted to travel a little more alone and return home, so we separated.

Members of this trip

And the father-son trio’s journey continues.

On the way, we will stop at the famous Grand Canyon.

I am simply amazed at the scale of it all.

I saw deer at the Ueno Zoo the other day, and looking at this photo again, I can see the mental and physical health of these wild (though perhaps protected) deer in their fur.

“Past”: Watching the future by knowing the past.

This was also deeply felt on this trip.

Finally, I stayed at an inn in Los Angels, and in Venice Beach, which I visited when I was 23 years old, and saw the Pacific Ocean for the first time in a long time.

In the dynamic scale of the landscape, I knew the darkness and light of human beings and felt the mystery of this world, yes Great Spirit.

The world is tremendously large, but people are all connected on this planet.

And that message will be followed three months later by the earthquake in Tohoku, the enormous loss of life from the tsunami, and the resulting nuclear power plant collapse, which will show the reality of the global evacuation of Tohoku and Japan, the spread of contamination, and the government’s and nuclear fuel company’s cover-up of information.

This became the mission statement for the re-release of the film I mentioned at the beginning of this article, “The Hopi Prophecy”.

Below is the remaining flyer data, though not all of it.

It is evident that conscious people from all over Japan were looking to this film for future hints.

In fact, many of us were reconnected through this screening.
I believe that all genres collapsed at this time, and everyone shared something beyond barriers.

And here is a compilation of interviews from around the world, including the interview with Ruben’s translation that appeared earlier, along with the music he created.

https://nxsshop.buyshop.jp/items/3765175

If you are interested, please take a look.

As I write this at the end of January 2023, 12 years after March 11, the government and the nuclear power and nuclear industry have cooled down, and are now building nuclear power plants again.

In writing this column, I was personally in the mood to tighten the laces of my loincloth.

I want to think and act firmly until the next generation after us, and the generation after that, until the descendants of the human race seven generations from now, as Dennis Vanks, the leader of the Native Americans who appeared in the movie “The Hopi Prophecy,” would say.

And the journey still continues.

Photo courtesy of Shokichi Asano

References

画像に alt 属性が指定されていません。ファイル名: JUZU-アー写0708.jpg

J.A.K.A.M. (JUZU a.k.a. MOOCHY / NXS /CROSSPOINT)
http://www.nxs.jp/
soundcloud / Bandcamp / Twitter / Facebook

東京出身。15歳からバンドとＤＪの活動を並行して始め、スケートボードを通して知り合ったメンバーで結成されたバンドEvilPowersMeの音源は、結成後すぐにアメリカのイラストレイターPusheadのレーベル等からリリースされる。DJとしてもその革新的でオリジナルなスタイルが一世を風靡し、瞬く間に国内外の巨大なフェスからアンダーグランドなパーティまで活動が展開される。ソロの楽曲制作としても米Grand RoyalからのBuffalo Daughterのリミックスを皮切りに、Boredoms等のリミックス等メジャー、インディー問わず様々なレーベルからリリースされる。2003年にキューバで現地ミュージシャンとレコーディングツアーを敢行したのを皮切りに、その後世界各地で録音を重ね、新たなWorld Musicの指針として、立ち上げたレーベルCrosspointを始動。
音楽制作のみならず、映像作品、絵本や画集のプロデュース、2012年には野外フェスOoneness Camp”縄文と再生”を企画するなど活動は多岐に渡るが、 2015年から始まった怒濤の９ヶ月連続ヴァイナルリリースは大きな話題になり、その影響でベルリン／イスラエルのレーベルMalka Tutiから新作がワールドワイドにリリースされる。2017年にはDJ TasakaとのHIGHTIME Inc.、2018年にはNitroMicrophoneUndergroundのMACKA-CHINとPART2STYLEのMaLとのユニットZEN RYDAZの活動もスタート。
同年、J.A.K.A.M.名義の楽曲がフランスのレーベルHardFistからアナログリリースされた流れで３万人の巨大フェスNuits Sonores Festivalでのライブを皮切りにヨーロッパ、イスラエル等のDJツアーが敢行される。そして2019年、世界的な支持を受けるMinilogue/Son KiteのMarcus HenrikssonとKuniyukiとのユニットMYSTICSの制作が始まり、今年2021年、待望のアルバムがリリースされるなど、そのオリジナルなヴィジョンがあらゆるジャンルをまたぎ、世界に広がっている。

Born in Tokyo, he started playing in bands and DJing at the same time when he was 15. As a DJ, his innovative and original style has taken the world by storm, and his activities have quickly expanded from huge festivals to underground parties both in Japan and abroad. In 2003, he went on a recording tour with local musicians in Cuba. In 2003, he went on a recording tour with local musicians in Cuba, and since then he has been recording all over the world, and started his own label, Crosspoint, as a new guideline for world music.
In addition to music production, he also produces video works, picture books and art books, and organized the outdoor festival “Jomon and Rebirth” in 2012. In 2017, he released HIGHTIME Inc. with DJ Tasaka, and in 2018, he released ZERO with MACKA-CHIN of NitroMicrophoneUnderground and MaL of PART2 STYLE. In 2018, he also started the unit ZEN RYDAZ with MACKA-CHIN of NitroMicrophoneUnderground and MaL of PART2STYLE.
In the same year, his music under the name of J.A.K.A.M. was released in analog form on the French label HardFist, which led to a live performance at the huge 30,000-person Nuits Sonores Festival, followed by a DJ tour of Europe and Israel. In 2019, the production of MYSTICS, a unit with Marcus Henriksson and Kuniyuki of the internationally popular Minilogue/Son Kite, began, and this year, 2021, the long-awaited album will be released. His original vision is spreading all over the world, crossing all genres.
He has been behind the decks at home and abroad with:
Acid Arab (FR) / Adam Ffreeland (UK) / Alex Patterson (The Orb, UK) Andy Baz (Background Records, Germany) / Asaf Sammuel (islael) / Dego (4Hero, UK) / Fabio (UK) / Francois K (NY) / Fred P(NY) / Foolish Felix (UK) / Grooverider (UK) / I.G.Culture (People, UK) / Jeff Mills (Chicago) / Joe Claussell (NY) Nick the Record (UK) / Moodyman (Detroit) / Panasea (Germany) PHOTEK (UK) / Storm(MetalHeadz, UK) / Suv (Fullcycle, UK) / Q-Bert & Inbisibl Skratch Piklz, Mix Master Mike with D-Styles, Yogafrog and Shortcut (US) / Theo Parrish(Detroit) / Terre Thaemlitz (US/JPN) / Tom Wieland (Vienna) /DJ KRUSH (JP) / Flying Lotus(US)/ / Boredoms (JP) / FAUST (Germany) / Dennis Bovell(UK) / Dillinger Escape Plan (NY) / Juno Reacter (UK) /Lee Perry (Jamaica) / LKJ (UK) / Lake Trout (US) / Mad Proffesor (UK) / Mala (UK) / Marcus Henriksson(SW) / Meat Beat Manifesto (UK) / Merzbow , MMW (US)/ Yakaza Ensemble(Turkey) etc. His style keeps evolving and defies categorization.