BIG IN JAPAN
Hideki Togi
 The world of Japanese traditional performing arts has always been a
cloistered one, and perhaps the most elitist of them all is the Imperial Palace Gagaku
Orchestra. Now, however, Gagaku is being reformed by a long-haired, leather-wearing rebel,
who is trying to inject some new life into a moribund art form. His name is Hideki Togi.
What is Gagaku? Originating in China and brought to Japan via Korea almost a thousand
years ago, Gagaku is music associated with a stately Japanese dance called
"Bugaku." The music uses drums, gongs, biwa, koto, sho
(a kind of mouth-organ) and the flute-like hichiriki. The Palace Orchestra is
made up of twenty-five members who all claim to be descendants of the Gagaku guild
musicians in the Heian era, roughly a thousand years ago, and their world is ruled by
traditions that make the Sumo stables look like a kindergarten. New members to the
orchestra must be sons of current performers (women are barred from Gagaku). Students are
not allowed to touch the instruments for the first several years; instead, they sit and
watch their masters perform, and are expected to memorize about 200 tunes. Public
performances of Gagaku are rare; "It' music for his majesty (The Emperor)," a
court spokesman once said, "an art that shouldn't be shown to the outside."
Hideki Togi was different from the outset. Born in Tokyo in 1960, a descendant of the
ancient guild musicians on his mother's side, he spent his childhood years in Thailand and
Mexico because of his father's trading company job. He began his orchestral training after
he left high school - very late by Palace standards. In his youth, he had absorbed a great
deal of musical influences from Western bands and guitarists, and had developed a
fascination with Jimi Hendrix that he still admits to today. Despite the misgivings of
some Court members, Togi was admitted to the orchestra and became noted for his talents,
serving as an official court musician for ten years. In 1996, he shocked the palace
authorities by resigning, and released his own Gagaku compositions commercially. His first
album, Mode of Rising Sun, came out that same year, blending traditional Japanese
arrangements with Western influences.
The Imperial Court was scandalized, and branded Togi's music as "pathetic."
However, it caught on with the public, his works giving an ambient and new-age feel to
something recognizably Japanese. He has released several albums to date, and his music has
appeared in a number of commercials and TV programs, most notably "Shin Asia Tanbo
(New Asian Explorations)" for NHK.
His looks and lifestyle are still decidedly rock and roll, with his great passion (besides
music) being motorbikes, and is the proud owner of a vintage Yamaha XJ400D. "My
playful spirit probably reflects my performance, or creation of music," he once
stated. Of course, Togi is not the first Gagaku performer to go freelance - but he is the
most successful, and the most eclectic.
"In Japan, we pass on the same traditions from generation to generation," he
once said, "but I hope that I am bringing something new."
John Paul Catton |
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