A while ago we introduced you to the Japanese band Hifana when we talked about their Fresh Push Play app which brought the bands break-beat style to the fans. This week they performed live on Japan’s online nightclub Dommune and streamed a very cool 15minute documentary introducing us a little more to “Tokyo’s finest beat-making duo”.
“I guess we call ourselves the strolling entertainers of the club music world” comments Juicy (jun Miyata), one half of the Hifana duo, as as he tries to describe just what style the band fits into. Throughout the whole documentary both he and KEIZOmachine (Keizo Fukuda), the other half, struggle to place exactly what genre that Hifana fit into best. Something more than simply “break beats” the film shows us just how Hifana make their music. Blending a whole host of digital sounds recorded by the pair, scratching, live instruments and all to the backdrop of incredible images, makes for a very energetic, homegrown organic sound. The music that Hifana make definitely lends itself to live performances going on those shown in the film which are filled with energy, “It’s like, lets go crazy with this performance…lets go crazy with everyone”, says Juicy as he describes their approach to their gigs. The pair also obviously have considerable talent to be able to produce their tracks live as they do, “The fact they used the MPC as a live percussion instrument, using the rhythm machine…The idea might occur to you, but no one would actually try to do it, right?” says music producer and DJ, Uppercut.
“With each album they reinvent themselves, so you never get to see them as real people but as iconic mythical personalities,” says Cruz the music video director from W+K Tokyo Lab who signed Hifana to their label (and the only band they manage). A cross between the Gorillaz, Orbital and Daft Punk, Hifana frequently collaborate with artists who bring out their characters in some particularly vivid and amazing images that are projected throughout their performances.
The documentary also touches on the obvious pride the two have in being Japanese, which they bring into their performances. You see them during a trip up North performing for those who live in the disaster hit Tohoku area. Beaming their images onto a tsunami ravaged house as they perform, it is obvious they do what they do because they love to do it, and want to spread this in the only way they know how. The very distinct sound that they produce, often featuring sampled, traditional Japanese instruments, along with the visuals in the shows are exactly the kind of “Cool Japan” we have been referring to recently in the series “Uncovering the Real Cool Japan”. A unique, complex band that cross boundaries and represent something, similar to Japan itself, that just can’t be summed up in one or two words.
Related Posts:
Uncovering The Real Cool Japan – Part 3
App Lets Fans Create Their Own Hifana Breakbeat Track
Awesome Creative Ad Questions Japan’s Values
Darrell is a native of the U.K. and has been in Japan since 2002. He consults on innovation and strategy at the 
