We cannot survive without Jazz: FONTE

The Japan Foundation presented FONTE for a jazz performance on Saturday at FICCI Auditorium in the national Capital. The independent administrative institution aims at promoting a greater awareness and appreciation of Japanese arts and cultures with a better understanding of culture, art and music through such functions. The event was conceptualised by Misako Futsuki, Director of Japan Foundation. FONTE is a Japanese music group who was joined by performers including Indian musicians Gaurav Mazumdar and Mohit Lal and Japanese musician Kiichiro Komobuchi. An audience of around 850 music lovers enjoyed the evening’s jazz performance to the fullest, as the six performing artists enthralled them. 

FONTE has three members, Masami Nakagawa, Kazuhiko Obata and Gennoshin Yasui since their inception. The Japanese Foundation has invited Komobuchi for bass as a special guest. FONTE had come together when Yasui was in Sao Paulo, Brazil and Nakagawa visited him. During this visit, they had a chance to perform with Filo Machado (VoG) there and after coming back to Japan, they wanted to have the great performance again together with the guitar player, Obata. That is how the group got together and started performing.

When asked what Jazz meant to them, they said that Jazz is same as daily meal for them and that it is a global language (to communicate with people from all over the world). “We cannot survive without Jazz,” was the first-class reply. One of the group members, Yasui was based in Brazil, that is how Brazilian music caught their attention and dedication. FONTE aims to elaborate Brazilian music freely and playfully. To answer how they feel about Indian classical music, they said that, it is very different and Indian classical music has a very unique and long tradition, totally dissimilar from other musical genres. 

“Somehow it sounds very amorous or charming to us”, said the musicians. FONTE is hoping to have many chances to play around the world in the near future. The group was formed in 2004 and they released their first album, a live recording, titled ‘FONTE Live at Corcovado’. 

They spent a lot of time to record their second album, ‘Conforto’, whose theme was comfort, and was released in 2010, while recording of their third album, ‘ENERGIA’, started after the Great East Japan Earthquake.