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[title]Diving her time between Tokyo and Berlin, Akiko Kiyama is quickly becoming a household name among European techno aficionados, after being discovered by genre superstar and enthusiastic Japanophile Richie Hawtin. Daito Manabe, on the other hand, can already count on a worldwide following: the headman of multimedia masters Rhizomatiks Research is renowned for his work on the stage productions of J-poppers Perfume and also played a major role in producing Japan’s part of the flag handover ceremony at the 2016 Rio Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Daito Manabe (right) and Akiko Kiyama (left) 
Despite working completely independently from each other, these two envelope-pushing artists have recently found a common – though some might also say unlikely – cause. Both proponents of the hypermodern in their past work, Kiyama and Manabe have turned to exploring the traditional Japanese arts. February 2018 track ‘Jabara’ saw Kiyama ‘reconstruct ancient Japanese music’ by combining the sounds of the shinobue (Japanese bamboo flute), shamisen (a traditional three-stringed banjo) and koto (the national instrument of Japan) with glitchy sampling and an asymmetric beat, while Manabe joined hands with kyogen (traditional comic theatre) superstar Mansai Nomura in creating an eclectic video piece for Nomura’s performance of ‘Sanbaso’, a centuries-old classic of the genre.
Both Kiyama and Manabe find the possibilities afforded by a fusion of the archetypal and the avant-garde fascinating. Manipulation of ‘space’ is a theme the two return to time after time, with Kiyama explaining how awareness of and an emphasis on space and pauses are what can make a work feel ‘distinctly Japanese’. Manabe chimes in, recounting his experiences working on dance performances abroad where he’s often been complimented for his ‘Japanese use of space’ by audiences who have never encountered something like this before.
However, Kiyama and Manabe’s efforts also suggest that the reinterpretation of tradition is more than just remixing time-honoured aesthetics to offer non-Japanese audiences something they’ve never encountered before. They also believe traditional music mirrors the contemporary world.
While Japanese social norms forbid ‘deviance’, they unwittingly produce displacement and nonconformity, which are in turn quietly accepted and considered natural. Traditional Japanese music, which is full of rules but nonetheless often contains wayward notes, is the same. While the ideas of the uneasy coexistence of order and chaos and the embrace of the latter as a source of creativity have ancient roots, not many people today are actively aware of them. Through digging deep into traditional culture and turning their findings into something uniquely funky, Kiyama and Manabe appear to have stumbled upon the essence of what makes Japan such a fascinating place.
Visit the artists’ respective websites for more information: Akiko Kiyama (jabara.tokyo), Daito Manabe (rhizomatiks.com).