- Date: Thursday, May 29, 2014
- Time: 4:30-7:30 pm (doors open at 4:00 pm) *free entry and exit at will
Part 1: Opening, 4:30-5:30 pm
Part 2: Garden Installation Performance, 5:30-6:30 pm
Part 3: Finale, 6:30-7:30pm - Venue: Garden & Iwasaki Koyata Memorial Hall, The International House of Japan
- Conceived and directed by AKIM (director, choreographer, performance artist; US-Japan Creative Artists Program Fellow)
Featuring: AKIM, AFRA, Iwasaki Mayu, Natsumiyuzu, Ken Powers and other very special guests
Photo/Video: Andrew Benton - Admission: Free (reservation required)
- Sponsored by the Japan-US Friendship Commission
- *To ensure safety, the number of people permitted in the garden may be limited to 50 on a first-come, first-served basis.
*The performance may be modified in the event of rain.
AKIM is currently residing in Japan for three months as a fellow of the Creative Artists Program from the Japan-US Friendship Commission. His ongoing “urban tea ceremony” series explores the threads running through urban expression and Japanese traditions in music and dance.
In Soratobu Boombox, AKIM has developed a three-part performance event featuring live music and video projection; an installation-style performance in which audience members stroll through the Japanese gardens of the International House; and an invigorating closing finale that reaches out to the young and old, contemporary and ancient, sweeping across cultures, genres, race, and class. AKIM’s ability to command a wide-ranging audience is based on his belief in our intrinsic desire to create music, dance, and ceremony, giving us a refreshing reminder of what is possible.
This performance is also a reunion event between AKIM and Japan’s foremost human beat boxer AFRA, who first met AKIM when he travelled to NY at the age of 16 in his search for hip hop culture.
This performance is also a reunion event between AKIM and Japan’s foremost human beat boxer AFRA, who first met AKIM when he travelled to NY at the age of 16 in his search for hip hop culture.
“We’ll experience the kind of show that’s truly rare, almost impossible in Japan, one that reaches into the subconscious of the audience members, encompassing forms from various elements like rap, poetry, chant, beatbox, theater, throat-singing, and dance.”
AFRA (Human Beatboxer)