百物語怪談会 / Hyakumonogatari Kaidan-Kai: Will you be afraid? II

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Some information:

Hyakumonogatari Kaidan-Kai/百物語怪談会 or better known as ‘The 100 ghost stories ritual’ is one of Japanese summoning rituals in Japan. Originated from a test of courage between 7 samurai back in 1660, the game spreaded to the rural area and became feudal Japanese favourite past-time. Hyakumonogatari is literally translated in part as hyaku – one hundred, monogatari – a story.Kaidan, however, is a crucial component to the establishment and the ongoing development of the ritual. In modern Japanese culture, Kaidan means ‘to narrate the strange’, different from the contemporary definition as ‘frightening ghost stories’ (Davisson, 2011).

The samurai engaging in the ritual.

Many kaidan(s) represent the Japanese relationship with Shintoism – which has been linked to since birth and their belief in the supernatural. Part of the reasons why kaidan, as well as the ritual, still manage to survive after hundreds of years…

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Asian Beats: Connecting the world.

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If I have to name one thing that all humans have in common, I wouldn’t hesitate and say that music is probably the closest thing to an universal language as it can get. Whether it’s folk, pop, rock, RnB or metal, all musics are formed with notes, tempos and instruments. However, while having common methodology, musics have identities as well. Music can be cultural, traditional, conventional or modern, it can also be regional, global or experiemental depends on what kind of music you are looking into. That’s why I love music, it has so much to offer just simply by re-arranging and re-invent itself into different forms and variations.

A jazz collaboration by 2 strangers who share common knowledge about music.

In my last  blogpost about ‘Asian Kawaii EDM’, I have illustrated the common elements as well as the uniqueness of the genre in comparison to other genres of…

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Asian Beat: Conventional sounds in Electronic Dance Music.

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Midnight of Summer by Aiobahn contains a lot of Asian Synth sounds.

EDM(Electronic Dance Music) was born from night clubs & rave culture and was pushed by the United States in the 2010s by the music industry to rebrand American rave culture. The term is used to refer to multiple sub-genres of music that involves electronic synths sounds that has certain characteristics such as verse, build up and drop. Though the formation of an EDM song may vary, the electronic twang differentiates the genre from the rest.

When talking about EDM, we would generally refer to an American centric sound, with an American audience and an American producer. But what about EDM in other countries. Though it’s quite hard to imagine, EDM, like Pop, is a global trend where everyone could participate and make whatever kind of music that they want as long as they have a computer or…

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Akira (1988): The inferiority complex within the Asian way of life.

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Akira is a revolutionary anime that came out in 1988. It is not an overstatement to say that the film has a significant impact in the later development of the Japanese anime industry. However, different from the current audience demands driven anime in the 2010s, Akira’s plot and animation style were so unconventional and raw that the audience in the present day would still be taken aback by the way it tells the stories.

Tetsuo from the anime ‘Akira’

One thing that stood out to me the most after watching the anime is the iferiority complex that lies within Tetsuo towards his best friend Kaneda, who always protects Tetsuo in every situation. After that, when gaining immense power from the innate psychic ability lies within his body, Tetsuo would turn back against the people that used to be with him since day one. To many people, this might sound ridiculous…

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