Interviews
Being free of the tradition
The groups—not just in the U.S. but outside of Japan—are more free. So there’s something about being bound to the tradition. There’s something about being free of the tradition. My thing is using tradition, as a basis of innovation because, to me, lot of times the stuff that’s free doesn’t have a real foundation. Or…it needs to have some kind of real fundamentals that it’s coming from or some kind of foundation. And sometimes, the strict tradition really ties you into something and doesn’t allow you to really create. So, and this is not for everybody. For myself, having that tradition to use as a basis of innovation, as foundation, it’s been real, I found…a great way to create new music for this art.
Date: March 11, 2005
Location: Hawai`i, US
Interviewer: Sojin Kim, Arnoldo Hiura
Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum.