Details of Concert


Title of Concert: Free Jazz Concert wishing for the Continuation of the Tsukiji Market
Place: Hibiya Kokaido Public Hall (1-3 Hibiya-koen, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo)
Date & Time: Saturday January 31st, 2009
Opening doors: 16:00, Opening curtain: 17:00
Performers: Masakazu Yamashita (elg)+Etsuko Kinuyama (tb) Duo /Taku Amemiya (p) Solo /Akihiro Sakurai (vo.g)+Masakazu Yamashita (elb) Duo /Shigeru Yoshino (as) Trio - Minoru Tanemori (elb) - Kanji Nakao (perc) /
Tickets: \1000 (Tickets sold only on the day of the performance)
Purpose of Concert:
1. To enjoy music.
2. To ask to the audience at the beginning and at the end of the concert, to observe the discussion of an application for an act against relocating the Tsukiji Market, taking place at the Tokyo Government Congress in February and in March.
Event organizer: The Group wishing for the Continuation of the Tsukiji Market
Supported by: Bunkyo Tatemono Ouen-dan, Papatto Kaigi@Motomachi-koen, Workshop on Acid Rain Research


Opening address by Naoto Nakamura


I am Naoto Nakamura of the Group Wishing for the Continuation of the Tsukiji Market.
Thank you very much for attending our concert!
Because I see some foreign guests at the seats today, I will do this both in Japanese and in English.

The music the performers are going to perform today is 'free jazz.'
Some of the people I invited asked me, "Why do you charge money while the concert is a free one?" But no, it's not a free concert like a free software or a free download, but it's a concert about a genre called 'free jazz.' Free jazz rose in the 1960s and the 1970s as one style of modern jazz and the famous players were, Ornette Coleman, Albert Ayler, John Coltrane, etc.

The performers today all play at a small live spot at Koenji called, 'Goodman.' The word 'free jazz' might be a dead language, but the performance still exists at Goodman. For those who have never heard this kind of music, the performance might sound a little weird.

Now, talking about the relocation of Tsukiji, we insist on reconstructing the Market at the existing site.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government says that they can't reconstruct because of three (3) reasons.
1. Asbesto is used at the constructions.
2. There is no space enough to reconstruct at the same time the Market is operating.
3. Reconstruction takes too much time.

But we think that we could still reconstruct despite those three reasons.
It is because OUR point of view towards Tsukiji is totally different from that of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.
While the Tokyo Metropolitan Government thinks that the Tsukiji Market is an ordinary market same as the other ordinary Central Markets all around Japan, we think that the Tsukiji Market is different and has a meaning of an industrial heritage.
Would people give up to reconstruct because of asbesto, having not enough space, or having no time if it were a thing like a cultural resource? No, they would find a way to reconstruct, no matter what.

I was very surprised these days, because when I talked about the Tsukiji Market relocation, I heard a lot of people say, "It's already a done deal, isn't it?"
We thought that we wanted to do our bits to try to change this trend.
So, please enjoy the concert.
Thank you!

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