Musical postcards from Japan by Jett “Escuri” Ilagan

Musical postcards from Japan by Jett “Escuri” Ilagan

by rick olivares

The song title is diffident – “Step Plaza.” However, Jett Ilagan aka “Escuri” asks you to suspend your disbelief and take a journey of Japan through his eyes and his music that he creates with his trusty Roland sp404 sampler.

“Step Plaza” starts off with intelligible chatter in Nihongo. Then the electronic beats fade in that evoke a sense of wonder before exploding with star burst of energy. The beats have a quasi-oriental feel, but in high tech Japan, it seems in tune with the pace.

Such is the debut offering from Escuri who spent two months in Yokohama – the second largest city in Japan after Tokyo -- participating in the Koganecho Bazaar; a festival that makes use of art to revitalize its bustling urban landscape.

You’d think the artists would have been asked to interpret the Minato Mirai that is the city’s iconic skyline and its iconic Yokohama Tower. Or maybe the Sankeien which is a traditional Japanese garden with its historic buildings. The Oshanbashi Pier is picturesque for its use of wood and grass. And there’s a lot more for a city that considers Tokyo its rival.

However, through the Koganecho Bazaar, the city’s every day spaces such as the plaza, a public laundromat, a bookstore, or even a hair salon to name a few are used as a stage by artists, curators, architects, and musicians from not only Japan but all over the world to create what they do best.

Escuri, with his sampler in hand set to write and record music in these public places. His instrumentals are mindful of the unique harmony of a highly industrialized and fully technological Japan while cognizant of its old world culture.

“I just interpreted what I felt at that moment,” he said of his music.

And now, Escuri, who hails from Sta. Rosa, Laguna, is home and he hopes that Filipinos will give his work a listen.

“Basically, my music is an interpretation of places and different environments,” Escuri explains. “In some ways, you can say that I am a painter whose palette is musical instead of paint or water colors. It is challenging because you have to focus on what is around you and pay respect to what is stands for.”

Looking lost and unobtrusive amongst the crowd during the inaugural Cassette Store Day Philippine last October 13 at the Creekside Mall in Makati City, the tall and lanky Escuri, with long and curly locks, peddled his cassette tape album, Wander Studio, that he put together while in Japan.

“I only have 29 cassettes to sell,” he said mindful of the raised eyebrows of such an odd number to sell. “It was all I could afford to put together.”

It is pricey though. Selling at Php1,200, Wander Studio comes with a miniature booklet where Escuri tries to explain in a few words as possible what he was seeing and writing about. It also comes with download codes so you don’t wear your tape out. Price-wise, I postulate that it will not be an easy buy especially for an unknown artist. I did give him though the benefit of the doubt and got one.

Wander Studio is an interesting listen. One has to really listen and focus on the music and not to be doing anything else to appreciate it and get it. You must read his booklet and notes before listening to each instrumental. It helps.

The music is electronic; the instrumentals, small morsels of delight that make you wonder what he felt at that moment when composing this music. In your mind’s eye, you picture a big city where there surely must be a mass of people about. It is a city that bustles, confounds, and teases with its myriad delights and offerings.

He writes music from the aforementioned plaza, laundromat, hair salon, and bookstore. He also composes music while at a bath house, a dock, a temple, and a studio.

At the Tofukuji Temple, Escuri wrote, “I walked aimlessly inside this maze-like graveyard. As I wandered around, I heard the murmurs of cicadas. They sang to me as if saying, ‘Sometimes to discover yourself, you have to lose you way.’”

And if Wander Studio is the result of getting lost, then this album is a great find.

Wander Studio may be expensive, but it’s like exploring the world through someone else’s music. Definitely, Escuri is a musician worth watching for and his cassette album is something you should check out.