Boo Jian Wen Jeremy
“Hello, my name is Akiko Yano, and my name is Rei Harakami, and together, we are yanokami,” the Japanese duo said in a coordinated sequence, addressing the 245-strong audience in the Mosaic studio on Mar 15. “It is our first time here in Singapore and I hope you enjoy our performance tonight,” Yano added.
Like their introduction, their performance was unassuming, modest and ingenuous, belying the impressive display of talent the audience will soon witness.
Their first song, “yanokamintro”, was slightly jarring for this UrbanWire reporter, as he’s more accustomed to the conventional jazz band, whose members play the trumpet, keyboard, saxophone, double bass and drums. Instead, Yano’s singing was fed into a hard disk recorder, which electronic musician Harakami used to edit on the spot, adding reverb, instruments and other special effects.
However, the initial surprise disappeared as the duo effectively filled in for all the missing musicians. By the time they reached their fourth song, “Lala Means I Love You”, it was difficult not to lose yourself in the voice that was described by The New York Times as “clear, gentle and wide-ranging”.
“Now, I can relax,” Yano said in a tired voice, between coughing bouts, as Harakami left her alone on the stage for her solo. “I am a little tired,” she explained, saying that she just flew from New York to Japan to Singapore. “Despite that, I am so excited to play here. It’s my first time playing in Asia. I got a chance to go places like Hong Kong, but never got the chance to play.”
Yano was born in Tokyo, and raised in Aomori, Japan. She has lived in America since the 1990s, and now resides in the Big Apple, which explains her fluent use of the English language, albeit with a tinge of Japanese accent.
“This one is from my old archives,” she told the audience, before breaking out in an energetic Japanese song, the first for the night. Caressing the keys at one point, pounding them at another, it’s undeniable that she has an impressive ability to convey her emotions through her songs, with the help of skilful playing of the piano. One cannot help but feel that it’s a great pity that her inadequate control of the microphone resulted in inappropriate and abrupt adjustments in volume levels.
After her solo, she introduced the second half of the performance, saying, “Yano and Harokami has great chemistry. Yanokami is the result of this great chemistry and in the second half, you’ll see this chemistry.”
Then, Harakami took the stage for his solo performance. The electronic musician kept his head down most of the time, his long fringe concealing his facial expressions. “Hi, I am Rei Harakami. I was born in Hiroshima. I’m now in Kyoto,” he simply said, before expertly twisting the knobs and pushing buttons on his mixing console, immersing the audience in a mind-blowing, three-dimensional sound experience, which bordered on disturbing as it touches the edge of your soul.
For the rest of the concert, they performed again as a duo, frequently conversing with each other, and the audience, in Japanese. Aside from monosyllabic utterances, Harakami spoke very little, choosing instead to tap his foot to the beat of his music.
Yet, language seemed redundant when both of them manage to complement each other comfortably. Indeed, their capability of drawing laughter from the crowd with their conversations, which the majority of the audience don’t understand, is testimony to the “great chemistry” between them.
When the dying notes of “Sayanora”, their final song, faded away into oblivion, they merely stood in the middle of the stage, thanked the audience (once again), and took 3 deep bows. Then they slipped into the backstage as silently and unpretentiously as they arrived, revealing no sign of the talent they had just displayed.
Related Mosaic Music Festival articles:
Mosaic Music Festival: The Preview
Dinner With Saskia Laroo Band: A Personal Experience