On the heartbreakingly beautiful ballads, a hush would descend over us, the two musicians driven to tears on a few occasions.Īlthough both artists have strong and unique styles and personalities, it became increasingly clear over the week that their ideas and beliefs in music converge in several ways.
Sometimes we would be grinning the whole way through, ‘it’s like magic!’ Takashi would exclaim. Then they would record, and after we would all listen to the playback. The process would go something like this Takashi would teach Bob the chords, the two would experiment for about half an hour with different instruments and work out an arrangement, Takashi would convey the general meaning of the lyrics and the feel of the song. Most songs were recorded in one or two takes, Bob and Takashi playing together live with only minimal overdubbing added for extra ornamentation. The location had been chosen to enable the musicians to immerse themselves entirely in an Okinawan island atmosphere with little distractions except the occasional dog bark, cat fight or crow caw (captured on one song, but left in for effect). Recording equipment was shipped in from Tokyo, and microphones set up on the straw matting of the house’s single room, that also doubled as our dining room and bedroom. Just a maze of narrow sandy streets in the centre that spread out in all directions towards the sea, stunningly turquoise even on the mainly cloudy winter days we were there. As flat as a pancake, there are only 200 inhabitants and no paved roads.
This album was recorded in a small, traditional wooden house on Taketomi, the most unspoilt of the Ryukyu islands of Okinawa, in the deep south of Japan. A feeling of deep mutual respect grew, and a genuine personal affinity and understanding of eachother, communicated through the universal language of music. The two musicians ignited a spark in eachother. Smiles broke out that got increasingly wider over the following four days. Any doubts, any fears, soon evaporated into the cool night air. Now, it was as if the moment of truth had come. They had hardly had time to exchange more than a cursory greeting at the airport on the small Okinawan island of Ishigaki, before rushing to catch the boat for the 10 minute trip to the much smaller island of Taketomi. If not created by the musicians, then by us the handful of staff and selected onlookers. Would it work? Would they like eachother, let alone be able to make decent music together? There was a tangible tension in the air. Within an hour of meeting eachother, Takashi Hirayasu and Bob Brozman were sowing the seeds for this album working out chords, trying out combinations of instruments, furtively glancing at eachother for encouragement.
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