Shibusashirazu Orchestra

Shibusashirazu Orchestra

Shibusashirazu Orchestra, also known in Japanese as 渋さ知らズ, is a Japanese free jazz orchestra formed by bassist Daisuke Fuwa in 1989. It works as a large multimedia performance group rather than a standard jazz ensemble, with a line-up of more than twenty people that includes musicians, Butoh dancers, modern dancers, theatre actors and other artists.

The group’s music consists of Japanese jazz works composed or arranged by Daisuke Fuwa. Its performances combine dynamic free jazz with dance, acting and stage design, and often use large moving objects created by stage artists. The orchestra’s 1998 European tour includes a performance featuring a twenty-metre-long dragon moving above the audience.

Among the musicians associated with the group are Hiroaki Katayama on trumpet and Takeshi Shibuya on piano. The ensemble also includes performers on traditional Japanese instruments such as shamisen, shakuhachi and ryuteki, and some performances present the development of Japanese music from the Middle Ages to the present. In that sense, the group operates both as a jazz orchestra and as a presentation of different strands of contemporary Japanese culture.