va - Genya Concert Live Document 1971.8.14-16

I wrote a little bit about this festival when I re-upped Keiji Haino's "Soul's True Love" boxset the other day, but here it is again:

In August of 1971, with Japanese authorities beginning to crack down on drugs and student protests, some people decided to organize a music festival near where an airport was about to expand. The expansion would disrupt the lives of the farmers who lived and worked nearby, so the event was intended as a show of support for the farmers and protest against the airport expansion. The organizers cleverly held the event during a Shinto holiday, and invited locals to come perform traditional holiday dances at the concert. Very inclusive, right? Featured performers came from the free jazz, folk rock and psychedelic hard rock scenes; bands like Blues Creation, Brain Police, Dew, Masayuki Takayanagi's New Direction Unit... and, notoriously, teenage Keiji Haino's no wave/free-improv band Lost Aaraaf. Despite the looming shadow of police presence, the Festival went off without a hitch. That is, until the final set of the night, wherein Haino took the stage and told the crowd of hippies, farmers, Communists and students that he wanted to kill them all. Then his neanderthal jazz combo made a supremely ugly racket. It didn't end well for anyone. That set is given a short excerpt here, which is frankly all that anyone needs, though it appears in full on "Soul's True Love".

disc 1
disc 2

For more like this, you may also want to check out the "Inspiration & Power 14 Free Jazz Festival" 2CD, recorded in Tokyo in 1973. It features a scorching Takayanagi set that anyone who reads this blog really ought to hear.