[FA Worldmusic] Asakusa Jinta / street bands

[Robert Weisberg]

I know Pistolera from New York, mostly female rock-ranchera/cumbia band 
are going!  They might fall into this category depending on how broad you 
want to make it - well, I know they played a Mexican street fair anyway. 
They played my radio show and I've seen them at Joe's.  To be frank, 
probably not as far along musically or as dynamic as Asakusa Jinta, but 
fun, a lot of potential and definitely something new for the NYC scene.

But the Japanese chin-don music that is at least partial inspiration for 
Asakusa Jinta is literally street music - it's played outside stores at 
store openings and ribbon-cutting ceremonies and that sort of thing 
(though I don't know if they do that!).  In addition to more traditional 
chin-don groups that are still around (like Chin-Don Tsushinsa) there are 
some other rockish bands that play off the genre, for instance Soul Flower 
Mononoke Summit which is a spinoff of the very interesting rock band Soul 
Flower Union, and notable for being quite political (lefty that is).


Rob W

***************

On Tue, 13 Mar 2007, ian at menziesmixedmedia.com wrote:

> Thanks for the tip Robert,
>
> Indeed there seems to be a real "trend" afoot of worldy "street" bands as
> you call them. Not that they are all brand new, but one senses some
> critical mass building...Foro In The Dark, Slavic Soul Party, Los Rubias
> Del Norte, Warsaw Village Band, Antibalas, Nomo, Dengue Fever, Boom Pan,
> Babylon Circus, etc, etc.
>
> I notice that Barbes Records and the Trouble Worldwide agency are growing
> hubs for the scene (in the US anyway). Exciting stuff. I wonder how many
> other groups mining this sort of terrain might be playing at SXSW too??
>
> Ian