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The Silent Name - Images from 2006 Japan tour
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Videos by Ed Davis www.underbelly.co.nz
Tokyo's sensory landscape is dominated by bubble gum pop princesses and Asian hip-hop gangstas. Most are plucked off the streets for their malleability and youthful looks and adorned all over the city's billboards by the market-savvy music mafia. The independent music scene remains relatively untapped and uncovered. So discovering the beautiful Otherness that New Zealand musician Ben Kemp offers from the underbelly of Tokyo's music scene is something of an aberration. After all, what is a nearly Maori singer-songwriter with a Japanese band (bass, percussion, flute) doing making music in Tokyo? Nearly Maori because he's pink enough to get sunburned but indigenous enough to carry his Rongawhakata roots with great pride.
Published poet Ben Kemp has filtered through his cultural surrounds to deliver a sound that is original yet familiar at the same time – especially given his distinctive accent and Maori motifs. The result is laid out in his 3 albums. A refined selection of mature tunes that soothe and haunt you, thanks to Ben's ethereal voice and poetic lyrics.
Most listeners have trouble pinpointing how to describe the music. Comparisons with Jeff Buckley have been made, but Ben Kemp is no imitator. He looks like a rugby player with his shaved head and athletic build yet his disarmingly sweet, high voice and melodramatic, acoustic pop dispel any Jack Johnson preconceptions one may have had.
NZ Musician magazine describes Ben Kemp's sound: "If tress could speak then this is what they would say." The Japan Times refers to the missing fifth member of his band as being the Ocean.
If you've ever wondered what other noteworthy items Japan is producing these days besides Toshiba and Mitsubishi, have a listen to Ben Kemp.
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