Credits:

Takuro Okada

Description:

For many years, Takuro Okada has harbored a quiet question: How can a Japanese musician pay respect to African American music without simply borrowing it? His exploration of this question has taken shape in his new album, *Konoma*. It is a work guided by the concept of Afro-Mingei.A Tokyo-based guitarist, producer, and bandleader, he has lived with this inner conflict since childhood. Although he grew up drawn to blues, jazz, and funk records, he hesitated when confronted with the history behind them. The concept of Afro-Mingei, which he first encountered at an exhibition by artist Sheaster Gates, showed him the way. Gates connected Black aesthetics with Japanese folk art. Both are rooted in resistancethe Black Is Beautiful movement, which challenged racism, and the folk art movement, which preserved the beauty of everyday life from the threat of extinction due to industrialization. This affini