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Shun & Jifrock - Beatdown pt4 |
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Interviews Archive -
Solo Artists
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Written by Laurent
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Monday, 29 November 2004 |
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Beatdown pt4, a quick chat with Shun & Jifrock...
Shun and
JifRock were this year's Japan representatives at the Beatdown world
finals. They both ended up in the semi finals, impressing both the crowd
and judges, with the crowds really taking a shine to them (if the amount
of noise people made when they came on is anything to go by). Not much
is known about them, as with most of the Japanese scene it is quite
hard to find anything out, unless you are fluent in Japanese. We had
a chance to quizz them in the afternoon before the competition, and
it was an interesting chat, but unfortunately it was done through their
translator and some of the answers were lost in the translation. Nonetheless
here it is, the answers are for both of them, as they spoke through
the same person it is mostly done in the third person. An interesting
look at tablism from an eastern point of view.
Conducted the afternoon of the Beatdown 2003 World Finals. Be sure to check the rest of our Beatdown interviews.
First
off what would be your definition of turntablism?
They both like to enjoy themselves on the turntables and have fun, and
Shun likes the instrumental side of it
How is the turntablist scene in Japan, because
from what we hear it seems to be getting bigger and the DJs seem to
be getting more recognition?
It is good, but a lot of it is still very underground and the
talented people are not always getting attention, but it is growing
and there are some very good things happening in the club scene in Japan.
And they both would like to make it better so they work hard at it.
I heard Shun had done some production work before
on compilations?
Well actually no it must be a different DJ Shun (ed note: strike one
for poor research) but he has done some remix work on some tracks that
he put on a mixtape, but that wasn't really promoted in Japan,
it was more underground.
And
do they play in clubs in Japan?
Yeah they both do club gigs and also showcases with some other
tablists and some labels over there. Jifrock also plays within a rap
group, so he does gigs with them as well. They are both involved in
the rap scene in Japan, as it is always growing and more popular.
And do they use any digital technology?
Shun doesn't like the new technology as much, he very
much likes to play with old stuff and records, but Jifrock likes to
play with anything as long as its good and he has tried some of the
new CD decks and Final Scratch and thinks they have a lot of potential.
Have they heard of scratch notation and what do
they think of it?
Yeah they have but they feel more like scratching is something
that is not specific enough to be notated in a sense, and Shun likes
to put his effort into coming up with new stuff and routines more then
trying to notate his work for example. They both very much feel like
scratching and the music is more about improvisation and freestyling.
It's more about the feeling of the music, and how you can improvise
but Jifrock does think that some form of notation could be good and
help in the way that it can give them a language to communicate with
the others.
And
finally where do they see tablism in 10 years?
Shun thinks that it will get much bigger and that the turntable
will become much more accepted outside of just the clubs and bars. And
Jifrock also would like to see it become much bigger and accepted by
the public as a form of music. They both want to work hard towards that
anyway!
Thanks
go out to them and their manager/translator Shoji. For more info on
them hit up breaking ground promotions.
And look out for more features and interviews on the Japanese scene
coming soon. Also check out our interview with fellow Japanese DJ
Kentaro in our archive.
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 18 September 2005 )
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