Categories
announcements

shout out to our “Tao” backers!

A muffled thud, and
the harlequin butterfly
soars into the light.

The haiku above is an image that came to mind when reflecting on the many emotions Akiko and I went through during the first part of the production process for Tao. It is also a celebration of the transformative powers of the butterfly, and is featured on the poster some of you have chosen as a reward.

Once again, AfuriKo would like to thank Laurent Maget, Charles Frossard, Chris Hayward, Margaux Couet, Diana & Ray Xecu, and Andy ‘Hippy’ Baldwin for their invaluable creative, artistic, and technical contributions to this recording and artwork.

Very special thanks also go to our fans, friends, and families, who generously participated in our Kickstarter campaign, joining us on the wonderful journey of making this music tangible. In alphabetical order:

  • Alyse Korn
  • Andre Below
  • Ant Law
  • Benjamin de Roubaix
  • Bruno Wilhelm & Laure Lang
  • Cheryl Suzanne Arnold
  • Chiyomi Hayata
  • Chris T. Armstrong
  • Christèle Oudin & Laurent Naccache
  • Coline Chaumont & Philippe Lopes de Sa
  • Daniel Crease & Yuko Horii
  • Danièle Jullien
  • David Shimamoto
  • Dominic Inferrera
  • Eddie Parker & Elaine Furness
  • Eloise Chadourne
  • Ernezt Kuijpers
  • Erwan Ledoux
  • Etienne Prat
  • Godefroy Dronsart
  • Greg Rawlings
  • Hidetomo Narisawa
  • Hiroko Horii & Christian Weiss
  • Hiroshi & Mieko Machida
  • Homi Faris
  • Isabelle Olivier
  • Jade Choi
  • Jean-Claude Dessein
  • Jean-Nicolas Dumez
  • Jeff Boudreaux & Isabelle Bégué
  • Jenifer Bright
  • Jez Matthews
  • Joscha Gujahr
  • Juan Andrés Ospina
  • Julien Porceddu
  • Kashima Hirotsugu
  • Kevin Funnell
  • Koichi & Yuriko Horii
  • Kumar Chopra
  • Kuniko & Kiyoshi Nakamura
  • Laszlo Gardony
  • Laura Bohn
  • Laurent de Laprade
  • Laurent Maget
  • Marcelo Woloski
  • Martin Vanden Bossche
  • Masayuki Tamura
  • Mathis Plapp
  • Mika Mimura
  • Mike & Hélène Funnell
  • Natsuko Matsuoka
  • Nguyen Lê & Dominique Borker
  • Noah Rott
  • Noor Bseiso
  • Olivier Michel
  • Özgün Forta
  • Pascale Audouze
  • Pedro Goueythieu
  • Peter Bailey
  • Peter Traunmueller
  • Ray & Diana Xecu
  • Robert Kyle
  • Robin Nitram
  • Ron Bozarth
  • Ryoko Yamada
  • Sandy Woodruff
  • Stefan Bornmann
  • Sylvain Moreau
  • Takeo Muramatsu
  • The Creative Fund
  • Tomoko Omura
  • Tomoko Yanagita
  • Tore Velden
  • Tracy Perry
  • Valérie Rozenberg
  • Violette de Bartillat
  • Xavier Hermosin
  • Yann Raineau
  • Yoshiko Oda
  • Yuuka Nakamura
  • Zacharie Abraham
Categories
TV

AfuriKo at Beats in Bliss Plaza covered by Queens by the Minute

AfuriKo was honored to be part of Beats in Bliss Plaza this year and perform an open-air concert for the first time in their beloved neighborhood of Sunnyside, Queens. The event was presented by Sunnyside Shines (Sunnyside District Management) and Nicholas Biondo from Queens by the Minute, an excellent source of local news, was present to cover the special event. In addition to visiting their website, you can find their channel here on YouTube.

Categories
podcasts & radio

むさしの-FM (Musashino-FM) interview

AfuriKo appeared on むさしの-FM 78.2 on November 14, 2017. Musashino is a city in the western portion of Tokyo Metropolis.

Categories
articles & reviews

Le Baiser Salé concert announcement on Le jars jase jazz

20170217 Baiser Salé
Double bill concert “AfuriKo + Jim Funnell’s Word Out” at Le Baiser Salé (an inimitable Parisian jazz club when it comes to jazz with a world music flavour!) announced on jazz critic Guillaume Lagrée’s blog “Le jars jase jazz:” Jazz concerts selection in Paris and Île-de-France for February 2017.

Categories
articles & reviews

“Sounds of Latin Jazz” concert review (Jazzmandu 2016): The Himalayan Times

AfuriKo @ Jazzmandu (Kathmandu, NP)
photo © Eric C. Shrestha
Latin jazz, Afro-Cuban tunes strike the right chord
Article in The Himalayan Times, Nepal’s largest selling English daily newspaper, reviewing AfuriKo’s concert at “Sounds of Latin Jazz.” The event was part of Jazzmandu, otherwise known as Kathmandu Jazz Festival (or the “Biggest Jazz Party in the Himalayas!”) and took place at the Summit Hotel in Patan (Lalitpur) on October 23, 2016.

🇬🇧 “… the magic of their music slowly took over the venue.”

🇫🇷 “… la magie de leur musique s’est lentement emparée de la salle”.

HNS, The Himalayan Times
Categories
gallery podcasts & radio

Style CD release: Radio Osaka (OBC) interview

AfuriKo appeared on Osaka Broadcasting Corporation (OBC), also known as Radio Osaka, an AM radio station of National Radio Network (NRN). The interview, including excerpts from AfuriKo’s second album Style, was aired on September 9, 2016, as part of weekly cultural program “Utazuki Don!“. The show is hosted by renowned Japanese producer, arranger, and singer-songwriter Taiji Nakamura, who has received several awards including the Japan Record Award (major annual music awards show that recognizes outstanding achievements in the Japan Composer’s Association in a manner similar to the American Grammy Awards) twice in 1972 and 1982.

Categories
podcasts & radio

The Other Village EP release: FM Salus interview

AfuriKo appeared on local radio station Yokohama Community Broadcast Co., Ltd., located at iTSCOM Studio & Hall in Setagaya (Tokyo) and better known as FM Salus, on November 3, 2015. The interview, including a few musical excerpts from their second EP, The Other Village (released in Japan only), was aired as a part of daily program “Afternoon Salus.”

Categories
gallery podcasts & radio

Jazzbox live session on Aligre FM

AfuriKo was invited to perform live on Jazzbox, a weekly program hosted by jazz lover Jacques Thévenet and aired every Saturday from 5 to 6pm on Aligre FM. This multicultural radio station was established in 1981 in the “quartier d’Aligre,” a historical working-class neighbourhood of the 12th arrondissement of Paris. Its mission statement is to “create and develop social and cultural links,” and many of its programs highly value notions such as freedom of speech, respect of human rights, and equality.

Categories
TV

On the Far Side interview: JazzActu.tv

photo © Ory Minie
Interview on Bob Garcia’s JazzActu.tv (published November 6, 2014), “la première chaîne de télévision consacrée exclusivement à l’actualité du jazz” (the first television channel devoted exclusively to jazz news) for the release of AfuriKo’s debut album On the Far Side.
Categories
articles & reviews

On the Far Side album review: Afrique Asie

artwork © Ory Minie
AfuriKo, On the Far Side (F-IRE)
Review of AfuriKo’s debut album On the Far Side in Afrique Asie (November 2014), a monthly magazine that focuses on the African and Asian continents at large, specializing in political analysis and economical, social, and cultural information. Edited in Paris, the publication is regularly distributed in over fifty countries in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, as well as North and Latin America.

🇫🇷 “Une musique qui respire, pulse, bifurque, badine. Inclassable et jouée avec une exquise délicatesse, au détour d’improvisations sournoises. Élaborée et à la fois sincère et spontanée. AfuriKo est en principe un duo absolument atypique. … À découvrir d’urgence et à y entrer doucement.”

🇬🇧 “Music that breathes, pulsates, bifurcates, trifles. That is unclassifiable and played with exquisite delicacy, in the course of sly improvisations. Elaborate yet sincere and spontaneous all the while. AfuriKo is in essence an absolutely atypical duo. … I urge you to discover them and slowly enter their world.”

– M. M., Afrique Asie