Bob Brozman - Official Website

Bob Brozman in Okinawa

Bob Brozman has been active in Japan on two fronts - his solo guitar concert tours and his Okinawan projects, concerts and tours. His first trip to Japan was in 1997, for a concert tour co-sponsored by Tokio Uchida's TAB Guitar school and Respect Records, a label specializing in Okinawan and Hawaiian music in Japan. The reaction in Tokyo and Osaka was so strong it was a bit shocking to Bob, and has generated more solo tours of Japan since then, including one with IGS co-founder Woody Mann, where 2 duet instructional videos were recorded for TAB.

Okinawa is an interesting place. A chain of many islands stretching south from Japan - nearly as far south as Taiwan - Okinawa is a peaceful, tropical island group where food and music reign supreme. Though currently part of Japan, it was originally settled by a mixed race of people, primarily Taiwanese aboriginals, Polynesians, and Philippinos. Because it was a long-standing independent kingdom, with some Chinese cultural influence, the Okinawan people have faces, language, food, culture, music, and lifestyle that are very different from the Japanese. The Okinawan kingdom had for centuries outlawed all weapons and the people were very welcoming and gentle, making them easy targets for colonial takeover; in consequence, much of the original Okinawan language and culture was suppressed by the Japanese as Okinawa was ruthlessly colonized by the Japanese during the 19th century. In 1945, at the end of WWII, Okinawa became an American territory and military zone, once again drastically influencing the Okinawan way of life. It remained in American hands until 1972, when it reverted back to Japan.

The music has many of the same universal qualities found in island music all around the world. There are some similarities to Hawaiian music, with a more Asian sound. The main instrument is the banjo-like sanshin, a 3 stringed lute with a snakeskin stretched over a small round body as a resonator. The sanshin is both lively and rhythmic, yet also contemplative and ethereal. The strong presence of nature can be felt in the music. Traditionally it has been a melody-only musical form, but the American presence, and the arrival of guitars, brought chord changes to this music, a concept pioneered by Takashi Hirayasu, who spent his 20s and 30s taking in the influences of American artists such as James Brown, Wilson Pickett, and Sly Stone.

During Bob's first tour of Japan, he mentioned his interest in Okinawan music to Kenichi Takahashi and Paul Fisher of Respect Records and Farside Music. They came back to Bob with a suggestion for a duet project with Okinawa's musical hero, sanshin player, writer, and singer Takashi Hirayasu. The project was to be recorded in a traditional small house on Taketomi Island, a small island in the extreme southern part of the Okinawan archipelago, the Yaeyama island group. On Taketomi, there are no cars, no phones, and a population of only 200. Bob and Takashi met for the first time in the tiny airport in Ishegaki Island, before rushing to catch a little boat over to Taketomi. "As soon as I saw Takashi's face I knew everything on the recording would be alright," says Brozman, recalling their first meeting at the airport. "I'm really interested in islands of less than 100 miles in diameter. They were never empire builders…their priorities are slightly different than mainlanders. Also, nature is in your face - you know all the time you're on an island and that affects the music."

Hirayasu, formerly guitarist with Shokichi Kina's band Champloose, had begun forging himself a solo career as a musician both in Japan and internationally. He had heard of Bob's musical work and was open minded about collaborating. JIN JIN, the result of their meeting, takes Okinawan music in new directions, with elements of blues and Hawaiian music added to mostly traditional melodies. Brozman was able to understand and absorb these influences, and translate them into a sympathetic accompaniment to Hirayasu's voice and sanshin, the three-stringed, snake-skinned Okinawan lute.

In making the album, Brozman and Hirayasu formed a deep friendship. The recording took place in the small, traditional wooden house on the tiny, unspoiled island. This traditional Okinawan house would serve as the artists' and crew's accommodations, eating quarters, and recording studio. Recording equipment was shipped in from Tokyo, and microphones were set up on the straw matting of the house's single room that also doubled as their dining room and bedroom.

It wasn't as much of a shock to Bob as Takashi might have thought. This was exactly the sort of atmosphere that the eclectic guitarist was hoping for. "Bob was perfectly happy sleeping on the floor with the crew. He didn't demand to stay in the Hilton Hotel, like some musicians I know," recalled Takashi. Says Brozman, "We all ate together and slept shoulder to shoulder. It really made for the feeling of the record."

"Bob is a musician who plays with his heart and his soul," enthused Takashi. "He can get to the root of a song very quickly and say, 'Let's go! Let's play!'" Bob was equally impressed. "It was beautiful...For me to go and record with Takashi - we can barely speak each other's language - you know, in four days we made this amazing, beautiful thing together."

Recording started within hours of their first meeting, and there was plenty of laughter and tears, as the two musicians discovered each other and created a new esthetic for Okinawan music. The music consisted of traditional Okinawan children's songs, sung by parents to their children for generations, describing a simpler way of life, and all classics in Okinawa. The result of this four-day session, JIN JIN, was released worldwide by World Music Network, to great international acclaim, reaching #2 on Europe's World Music charts, and Amazon.com's #1 album of the year in the International category.

Hirayasu had previously recorded with American guitarist Ry Cooder in 1980 on Shoukichi Kina and Champloose's classic album "Bloodline," but he found this project far more rewarding. "When we recorded with Ry Cooder in Hawaii," Hirayasu explains, "Cooder would spend hours in a separated booth, recording over what we'd already done. Even then, he couldn't understand the rhythm so we ended up changing the rhythm to accommodate him. Bob, though, came to Okinawa, and we started playing together live, and within minutes he soon understood the rhythms and made an effort to get to know the lyrics and feeling of a song."

In July 1999, Bob invited Hirayasu to participate in the International Troupe Tour of festivals in Winnipeg and Quebec City. For over 10 days, Hirayasu performed on a variety of stages in various combinations: sometimes solo, sometimes with Brozman and Brozman's band, The Thieves of Sleep, and sometimes in genre-crossing jam sessions with Debashish & Subhashis Bhattacharya from India and Georgo Pilali from Greece. All joined together on the main stage in Winnipeg in front of 20,000 people, a performance singled out by festival director Pierre Guerin as a personal favorite.

In Quebec, this entourage was further joined by musicians from China, La Réunion, Cuba, Guinea, France and even a Japanese taiko ensemble based in Toronto, on a picturesque stage overlooking the old town of Quebec.

Since 1999, Bob and Takashi have toured America, South Africa, and twice in Europe. In 2000, Bob & Takashi recorded their second CD NANKURU NAISA, this time at Bob's northern California home, with Daniel Thomas once again engineering. This time all the songs were written by Takashi and arranged again by Bob and Takashi. The subject of the songs is more autobiographical, and the style of music reflects Takashi's exposure to the variety of world musicians he was working with on the Troupe tour. This album also climbed the charts, and garnered reviews hailing it as an expansion of the work on JIN JIN.

In 2002, the two friends continued their journeys, joining forces with René Lacaille and his musicians and with Debashish, Subhashis, and Sutopa Bhattacharya for a Pacific-Indian Ocean super-group tour in Europe and Canada. Later in 2002, Takashi, Bob, and René’s group traveled to Singapore for the WOMAD festival there, meeting many African and Asian musical friends. In 2003, Bob and Takashi played at both WOMADelaide and WOMAD New Zealand, where in both festivals Bob organized the finale with over 35 musicians from a dozen countries. In June 2004, all three artists (Takashi, Rene, Debashish, and Bob) reunited for a triumphant sold-out–weeks-in-advance ensemble concert at the Barbican Theatre in London. In September 2004, Bob returned to Japan for a string of special Okinawan shows around the Tokyo area with Takashi and his accompanying musicians. This latest version of Takashi and Bob’s “Tuff Man Gumi” had perhaps the most beautiful arrangements yet of Takashi’s music. Takashi maintains a full performing and teaching schedule in Japan year round.