五戸国際ミュージックフェスチェバル Gonohe International Music Festival

A couple of folks in the JET community organized this festival. I've missed going to shows (Shich' isn't exactly a destination for bands to play at... I don't even think there's really a venue here... maybe the outdoor stage 'downtown'...) The weather was beautiful and I'm so glad that we made the drive down.


There were a good number of acts on the bill, sadly we had a bit of trouble finding our way to the park, so we missed a few (including the Axé Capoeira group from Hachinohe and the Hatsukoi Four from Itayanagi), but the ones we did catch were great. When we arrived 瞳夢 津軽三味線 (Hitomi yume Tsugaru shamisen) from Nambu were on stage. Theirs was a traditional Japanese performance with a shamisen player, taiko drumming and dancers.


Next up were N'goma from Hachinohe, a West African percussion group tapping out great rhythms while we basked in the sunshine. They were followed by the blues rock stylings of Kyle and the College Try. As usual they were great, I even got in a dance with one of my fellow JETs. There was a great turn out at this festival, and it was wonderful to see so many familiar faces gathered together to support a diverse offering "local" music.

6th on the bill was, what I thought (judging by the name alone) was going to be a super experimental-prog-rock-ish group called Zodiac Nova Pop-Machine & Contemporary System from Hachinohe. It turned out to be a percussionist and guitarist, and their set was not comprised of only 2 very long songs. ;) This presumption was further fostered by one of the members getting a sort of percussion circle of random participants going during the intermission. I'm afraid I did not catch his name, but he reminds me of a cross between an elementary school music teacher and the art teacher from Jefferson Jr High.



The last couple acts kind of blended into each other, beginning with Satomi Okazaki (from Sapporo), who was joined by the superbly talented Kazuma Sotozono (also from Sapporo), and then also Michael Warren. The last act listed was Michael Warren's Honest People Band, which started with the eponymous MW, who invited various people to join him and ended with a sort of mass-band situation of a stage full of folks who had kicked some serious ass earlier in the day. As the sun disappeared and the fall evening chill began to set it, most folks were on their feet singing and dancing along with the ensemble performance playing covers to the crowd's delight. The last song that I heard was the Gonohe song, whose lyrics were circulated in the crowd, but, sadly, I could not read all the kanji to sing along.

A wonderful festival, thanks to Michael Warren and Dave Herlich for organizing it. Well done, gentlemen.