[article] How one Japanese composer rocks China

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Asia/ Newsmaker：How one Japanese composer rocks China

10/25/2006
BY KENJI MINEMURA,THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

It's perhaps the most successful song ever in China--and it was written by a Japanese man.

Keisuke Kikuchi, 43, a keyboard player and composer based in Beijing, wrote "Tuya (graffiti)" for Ji Minjia, a popular Chinese singer. "Tuya" went on to top all the music charts compiled by the 300-strong FM radio stations across China--a national first.

Kikuchi, who works with about 10 different singers as a composer or keyboard player, not only has offices in Beijing but also in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Bangkok.

His work also takes him all across Asia, meaning that he is only at home, in Beijing, for about two weeks a month.

The composer made his debut as a keyboard player in a pop group in 1983, and went on to play with other popular Japanese bands, such as Tulip and Alfee.

He also helped produce songs for Japanese singer Ayumi Hamasaki and a Chinese group, Nuzi Shieryuefang (Joshi Junigakubo in Japanese).

Kikuchi's first introduction to China was when he visited Shanghai in the summer of 2001.

He had imagined that everybody wore the People's Suit, or Chinese tunic suit, and rode around on bicycles. He couldn't believe how different the country was from his preconceptions. As he looked out over the city from one of its many skyscrapers, Kikuchi felt like he was looking into the future.

But he was also thrilled by the contrasts of the city: the alleyways packed with delicious smelling food stalls and people calling out to each other.

"I was so excited, I couldn't sleep," he said of the experience on a recent visit to Tokyo.

In 2002, he left Tokyo for Shanghai, and set up an office there.

Life isn't always easy for Kikuchi in China. Any newspaper or television coverage of Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, for example, leads to a sharp decrease in the number of his songs downloaded from the Internet.

There is also the language barrier. However, he and his Chinese co-workers often discuss late into the night how to make melodies suitable for the Chinese language.

"If I make a hit song in China, where the market is more than 10 times bigger than in Japan, the song that is born in Asia could be a hit on the world market," Kikuchi said. "I hope that, through music, people in Asia will feel that they are one."(IHT/Asahi: October 25,2006)

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-...610250116.html