African JAG

A new album highlights Africa’s AIDS problem

Zap Mama photos courtesy of JAG PROJECT/Es.U.Es Corporation

In comparison with high-profile Western musician- activists like Bono and Bob Geldof, the Japanese geinokai (entertainment world) can often seem like a political vacuum.

But all is not apathy. A new release shows that a number of artists are, even if on a modest scale, doing what they can to address issues faced in Africa.

Currently applying for NPO status, the JAG Project grew out of the more than 30 trips that Noriko Asano, longtime head of hip-hop icon DJ Krush’s management company Es.U.Es, has made to Africa since she went to celebrate Eritrea’s first year of independence in 1994. These travels have resulted in collaborations between DJ Krush and African musicians, African art exhibitions, and also in the JAG fundraising concerts that Es.U.Es has held at Liquidroom over the years.

But this time, Asano felt the need to do something different. “I wanted to make a sustained effort, rather than do a one-off event,” she says at her Nakano office. “With an event, we only reach the people who come to the event, whereas if we do a CD, we can reach more people worldwide, and people who see the liner notes will get a deeper understanding of the issues.”

Prior to the release of African JAG Vol.1, which features tracks by Krush and Zap Mama, among others, Asano made a trip to the southern African country of Malawi. In the liner notes she documents her self-organized, self-financed trip, during which she met with children suffering from AIDS, covering 2,400km in the process.

“I didn’t make any appointments,” she explains. “I did have the cooperation of the government, but you can’t entirely depend on African governments. In Africa, the ruling tribe will tell you one thing, while the other tribes in the country will tell you something completely different. So I went and met local people on the streets directly, and they brought me to see the situation of AIDS sufferers.”

Asano says she chose Malawi not only because it is hard-hit by AIDS, but because so many people in the country face starvation due to chronic food shortages. Illustrated with Asano’s documentary photography, the liner notes to African JAG tell the story of her trip, and show how the money raised by the album will go to NGOs working with African AIDS sufferers and former child soldiers.

The notes, says Asano, have sparked a groundswell of interest. “It’s not a reality that most Japanese can relate to, and a lot of people don’t want to hear about it, but the visuals bring things home. When they understand that ¥10,000 can cover the costs of 200 medical visits, they’re encouraged.

“Big media companies haven’t been very responsive, but working with small boutiques in [trendy Harajuku shopping district] Urahara and club kids, we’ve been able to get a good response. For example, an Urahara skateboard brand licensed our logo for T-shirts, donating the profits to JAG.”

The tracks on the album have no names and are indicated only by the performers, an eclectic group of artists conscious of the issues supported by the JAG project over the years. The album gets underway with some heavy-hitting, abstract-hip-hop flavored tracks, including one featuring Krush with rapper Shing02. It continues on this note with an atmospheric collaboration between DJ Hide and Nigerian percussion genius Tunde Ayanyemi, as well as a great, loping track by Mike Ladd vs DJ Duct.

There’s also plenty of political food for thought, such as a number that asks, “What does it mean when the water’s not clean?” But it’s not all polemic. African JAG Vol.1 ends on a lighter note with a soulful, trip-hop-influenced song by Euro-African collective Zap Mama and a chill, downtempo classic by Nudejazz, a duo of organist Kankawa and DJ Kensei.

Asano’s immediate fundraising goals are modest, but with North American and European licensing deals in the works, and considering the positive response she has received so far, the African JAG project could gain momentum. “With the reaction to the Malawi report, it looks like we’ll be able to get the involvement of more famous artists for volume two,” she says. “I don’t want it to end with only one CD, but to develop a series.”

African JAG Vol. 1 is available on JAG Label. www.jag81.com/africa

Would you like to comment on this article? Send a letter to the editor at letters@metropolis.co.jp .