Sound Tracks for Sagi-Tama's Art Film "FUMON 246"

(TI writes on 29 June 2021:)

Some listeners who have seen “FUMON 246” have asked: "This is a very interesting movie, can you explain the meaning of the film (for those of us from different cultures)? 

I can't speak for the meaning of the film or the intention of the expression. I can only give you some facts and impressions from my point of view as a music provider from outside. However, facts are just facts, and they do not necessarily explain the work correctly. Impressions are just that, impressions.

What is important is how the viewer perceives the work, and that is what I consider to be "contemporary art".

[About the theme "FUMON 246"]

"FUMON" means "Wind ripples" or "Wind Pattern", a pattern formed on sand or snow by the wind. 

"246" means "Route 246". This road was used in Japan's Edo period (1600s to late 1900s) to make pilgrimages to Mount Fuji, and in modern times it has remained an important transport and industrial road linking Tokyo with the suburbs, with many trucks and cars still passing through.

As a side note, both TM and TI used to live very close to this road when they were at school, and I can't tell you how many times I sat in the passenger seat of TM's car and drove back and forth along Route 246.

The film was shot entirely on location in the city of Route 246: “Edo Castle” (now the Imperial Palace) is the starting point of Route 246, “Sangenjaya” is a town of students and young people, and the riverbank where the vocalist sings at the beginning of the film is the Tama River, the border between Tokyo and the suburbs.

[On filmmakers and expression]

The filming, editing and direction of this movie was done by "Sagiyama Keisuke", a filmmaker who has made many films and won several awards.

He has also taught at several art schools.

Here is a quote from Hideki Yamakawa's website.

"This film, shot on location along Route 246, is a tribute to Jack Nicholson in The Shining.

The film is a tribute to Jack Nicholson from 'The Shining', with the dancer Tamatsuka's masked gaze and movements reminiscent of 'The Shining'. A number of hidden places along 246 appear.

[The performers and their expressions]

[The Dance]

The masked performer is Tamatsuka Mitsuru, the producer of this movie. He is a producer of theatre (mainly traditional Japanese theatre) and a specialist in Japanese dance.

[The Voice]

Voice performances are given by vocalists Yamakawa Hidetake and Yamakawa Aito. They are a father and son duo who have both studied Western music as vocalists at professional institutions. The son, Aito, is currently a student of voice at a music college.

[The mask and the mask-maker]

The maker of the masks is Kanosue Shiro, an artist who has studied and worked in art and painting in Barcelona and now lives and works in Japan.

The mask is a very important item in Noh, it represents the gender, age, personality and emotions of the character being played. They also have a variety of meanings, such as separating the performer from his or her character, the everyday from the extraordinary, the worldly from the unworldly.

The masks are also reminiscent of Japanese origami helmets, Japanese special effects and anime (the filmmaker “Sagiyama Keisuke”points to the influence of Japanese special effects films with their monsters and superhumans).

[The music]

With the exception of the voice performance, the music was provided by FMT.

However, no requests for music were made by the producers or filmmakers. We do not take requests from producers or filmmakers, but we do provide music on the condition that they are free to use (or not use) the music in any way they like.

The music used in this project was chosen by the producers and filmmakers from all the songs we provided, including those we are still working on.

We were not involved in the selection process. We were somewhat aware of the possibility of the songs being used as a soundtrack for a film, but of course we didn't know what the film was going to be (it hadn't been decided yet), so we didn't have any specific intentions.

One of the chosen songs, "Neither West, East, North, Nor South", was created with some awareness that it would be used for this film, but the other song, "Particles Behaving Like Waves", was not intended at all. I didn't know about it until I saw a preview of the film.

I was surprised to learn that the title of the song 'Particles Behaving Like Waves' and the word 'FUMON' (Wind ripples) mean almost the same thing.

As a side note, the take used on FUMON 246 is a demo take from the mid-production stage and differs in tone and mix from our published take (which we no longer have). It was not finished when we provided it for the video (around October last year). In the first place, we forgot that we had provided this track.

Here's what I (TI) think.

I don't know if it was the intention of the artist or the film team, but on the surface this film is very Japanese or uniquely Japanese, but there are contradictory elements scattered here and there.

From Route 246, past and present, centre and periphery. Masks, dance and western costume, vocal music, East and West. The dance and voice performance and the music of FMT seem to contain and reveal many contradictory elements: physical and non-physical, traditional and non-traditional. The same may be said of the chaos and harmony that can be felt.