Raw Denshi combines the talents of Kojoe, Hikaru Tanaka and Aaron Choulai at The Substation.
The Australian Art Orchestra is excited to be premiering Raw Denshi in October presented by the Melbourne International Jazz Festival (Australian premiere) and the Museum of Old and New Art (Tasmanian premiere).
Based on AAO Artistic Director Aaron Choulai’s critically acclaimed 2020 release, and reimagined for the Australian Art Orchestra, Raw Denshi explores new pathways of experimentation in hip-hop and improvisation, bringing together two of Tokyo’s most prominent and influential MCs and the AAO.
Keep up with the latest music news, features, festivals, interviews and reviews here.
Featuring pioneers of Japanese hip-hop, Kojoe and Hikaru Tanaka, Raw Denshi combines bilingual rapping and structured and free improvisation, woven together by Choulai’s distinct approach to composition. The Australian Art Orchestra’s take on Raw Denshi celebrates cultural unity and creative expression through the intersections of Australian and Japanese contemporary languages in rhyming and improvisation.
Aaron Choulai is an award-winning and critically acclaimed pianist and composer whose work is recognised as innovating new directions in jazz, hip-hop and improvised music. From large scale multi-media cross-cultural festival commissions, to Japanese hip-hop beat tapes, Choulai’s career spans over 20 years, crossing international borders and intersections between genre and culture. Choulai commenced the role as Artistic Director of the Australian Art Orchestra in 2023. This is the first performance of the AAO’s new artistic program.
Kojoe (International Artist, Japan) has established himself as one of Japan’s most influential and celebrated voices in hip-hop. His dual rhyming style, in Japanese and in English, has pierced multicultural barriers and piqued the interests of various listening audiences. His provocative approach and style has enabled Japanese audiences to become objective listeners amidst a foreign dominated, and J-Pop saturated market.
Hikaru Tanaka (International Artist, Japan) specializes in a technical chop-flow style, with an emphasis on poetry drawn from the perspective of the working class. In addition, his live performances incorporate the use of samplers and effects to disassemble and reconstruct his own songs, interweaving with freestyles and improvisation.
The Australian premiere of Raw Denshi is presented by MIJF at The Substation, Newport on Thursday 26 October 2023. Tickets and event info here.
