December was mostly occupied with preparation for my PhD defence, while grading exam papers and finalizing student grades. I had two defences. I'm happy to say that I passed the defences without too much problems, although I was quite nervous.
I went to several dance performances, finally saw Miyavi perform live, and also went to see Star Wars on the biggest screen in the world.
And a family member came to visit me. My brother arrived on Christmas day and visited me for three weeks. Within his first couple of nights in Korea we went to the Dongdaemun Design Plaza, and also to the Light Festival at the Garden of Morning Calm, close by Chuncheon. I also made my brother wait to see Star Wars because I wanted to see Macbeth first, before seeing Star Wars again. Macbeth was great, and seeing Star Wars a second time didn't disappoint.
Definite highlight for November was finally seeing Miyavi perform live.
Met up with friends that I haven't seen in ages.
Korea has a traditional custom known as "Sa-eun-hoi" 사은회 that roughly translates as "Teacher's Appreciation Banquet". It is a special dinner hosted by students for their teachers to show their appreciation. Annually around this time of the year the students in my department invite the lecturers to attend "Sa-eun-hoi." They treat us to a lovely buffet meal, share messages of appreciation, and sometimes give us some gifts (or gift vouchers).
The dress code theme for this year's "Sa-eun-hoi" was black & white, hence my outfit. (I bought the silk scarf in China at a silk market during my trip there earlier this year.)
A teaching highlight this year was in my one poetry class. After reading the poem "Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou, the students actually applauded. I got an applause for the reading of another poem earlier this semester as well -- "I Sing the Body Electric" by Walt Whitman. I also got one or two applauds after two lectures. It is a weird thing to be applauded for one's job, but it does make one feel that you are in the right occupation.
In November I had to submit my PhD dissertation for examination. Getting it ready for submission take up much of my time and energy. I also had to pay a $500 examination fee that I didn't know about. That sucked. It wasn't in my budget.
Still actively teaching martial arts. Have been working on getting my one student ready for his black belt promotion in the middle of January 2016.
I've written about Miyavi a number of times on this blog. I'm not a die hard fan who follows his every step, and although I subscribed to his twitter-feed, I very seldom check Twitter. Rather, every couple of months I start wondering what he has been up to, so I do a quick search for him online and get my Miyavi-fix.
His latest music releases are in English rather than his mother tongue, Japanese. The earliest things I heard of him that were in English were not that good. I mean, even back then his guitar playing was superb, but his English pronunciation was not good at all. This has clearly changed. He must have been studying quite hard since, for example he sang "Hit the Road Jack" in 2007. His latest two singles are, by comparison, dramatically better and very intelligible. The sound is also much more mainstream, I'm guessing to appease the Western market. I personally like his metal tracks and rock ballads better than this swing towards dance music.
The music video for his new single "Secret" is probably one of the sexiest, most suggestive music videos I've ever seen. Don't watch it at work.
In other Miyavi-news, he has been cast in Angelina Jolie's second feature as director, "Unbroken", which ought to come out at the end of 2014. He will play a Japanese prison guard during WWII.
Few artists have that mythical ability to reach inside your chest, take a hold of heart with both hands and just squeeze it till it oozes with emotion. It's a raw type of emotion evoked by a raw type of voice, like Skin from Skunk Anansie; or like Miyavi. Just listen to Miyavi in his "Requiem". Really listen. You don't even need to understand Japanese to feel the hurt, the longing.
O how I wish I could experience him live. No need for anything fancy. Just him and his guitar -- unplugged. Now that would be a memorable experience.
My favorite guitarist, the Japanese sensation, Miyavi is busy with his world tour. He performed on a radio program yesterday -- here's a little outtake below:
While on tour, Miyavi is promoting a "Pray for Japan" campaign that's gathering donations through the Japanese Red Cross Society for victims of the recent natural disasters that struck Japan.
After his show in Brussels he'll be heading towards Germany, Austria, Italy, Hungary, Poland, Sweden, Finland and in May he'll be back in Tokyo. Unfortunately, again, there is no Korea stop. )-;
His English has improved quite a bit since the last interview I saw him in. I'm also following his tweets on Twitter, and although he uses lots of slang and abbreviations, I'm also noting an improvement in his English. I'm guessing that he must have a personal English tutor traveling with him. Now that's I job I would have liked -- getting to travel the world with one of the greatest guitarists alive!
Miyavi did the music for a UNIQLO advert. As a brand, I quite like UNIQLO. I bought this (synthetic) leather jacket from a UNIQLO shop at COEX last year. It is one of my favourite pieces of clothing.
I wish I can see Miyavi perform live. There is something about the way he mixes emotion with improvisation that really resonate with me. His voice is not exceptionally melodious, but that is part of its charm, isn’t it? There's something raw about him: something, at once tender, and rough. He has an androgynous quality that reverberates with my own constitution. He is weird like Marilyn Manson, but somehow he escapes Manson’s freakishness. Unlike Manson he does not try to shock. Miyavi’s “weirdness” comes across as an honest reflection of his peculiar talent. In that sense, Miyavi is much more like Björk. His honesty as reflected in his blog updates is also something that appeals to me. Although he is an international superstar, he's also just a normal person and verbalizes it . . . he's not trying to keep up appearances. He says that the hair extensions that's part of the current tour is irritating; he tells of the bruises he got when he fell off the stage; he mentions when he's tired; he leaves a nice message for his mom on Mother's Day.
Although Miyavi is kicking off his world tour again, it doesn’t seem like he's going to perform in Korea any time soon. Maybe there isn’t a fan base in Korea. None of the Koreans I’ve asked about him knows who he is. After some gigs in Japan he’ll start a tour in America, performing in many of the big cities in the US and Canada: San Diego, Los Angelas, San Francisco, Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, Chicago, Toronoto, Boston, Washington, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston . . .
I truly hope that I get to see him at least once before my stint in the Far East is over.
In my post on Most Kissable People I listed Miyavi. The real reason I like Miyavi has little to do with his looks. Rather, I am intrigued by his music. Miyavi is Japanese rock artist. He is one of those international stars that has a cult following around the world, but whom few people that typically listen to American pop music know about.
The first Miyavi song I stumbled upon is “JPN Pride” (in the YouTube-video above) from his latest album “This Iz the Japanese Kabuki Rock.” I was so taken by the song that I decided to get me a Miyavi album. I got a best-of compilation with the similar title: “AZN Pride: This Iz the Japanese Kabuki Rock.” While some of the hard rock records can become too heavy for my sensibilities, there are quite a number of songs that I really enjoy.
Miyavi is considered the best guitarist in Japan at the moment. When Miyavi uses the guitar, the whole instrument is used, not merely the strings. Under his dexterous hands the guitar becomes both a string instruments and a percussion instrument. Watch this video of him performing “Selfish Love,” to see what I mean.
But it is his song “Itoshii Hito” (it means “my beloved” or “my lover”) that really made me become a fan. This exquisite love song becomes better with every hearing. Even if you don’t understand the words, you can still understand the emotional honesty from the vocals. It is such a beautiful composition—carrying the emotions from the beginning of the song, right through to the end. Nothing is wasted. Then, once you’ve read the words, the song becomes doubly beautiful, and as I said, it continuous to grow on you.
To be honest, I cannot decide which version I like the best. The recorded one, with the beautiful orchestration of piano, violin, and guitar…
…or the live version with Miyavi’s guitar playing carrying the song over some sampled background noise.
The emotional strength of the song is equally strong in both versions.
So, you may be wondering, why is he dressed up as a woman? To understand it, you need to know what Visual Kei is. Remember in the 80s when male Hard Rock and Heavy Metal artists dressed up and put on make-up? Did you think them gay for their Halloween-antics? Of course not. Well, dressing up and putting on make up never ceased in Japanese rock. In Japan, the visual impression given by the artist can be just as important as the sound of the music. While Western Heavy Metal celebrates masculinity and machismo, in the Far East an androgynous presentation (think “yin-yang”) is emphasized. This dressing up as part of the musical act is known as Visual Kei in Japan. In South Africa we had our own type of Visual Kei act in the, now disbanded, band Boo!, which had Chris Chameleon as the lead vocalist.
While Miyavi may at times look rather feminine (the correct description is “androgynous”), this says nothing about his sexual orientation. Miyavi is a happily married young man, and him and his wife has a baby girl.
Below is another beautiful song. The title is “Thanx Givin’ Day,” and is a child-like “thank you”-song for his parents.
It is songs like “Thanx Givin’ Day” and “Itoshii Hito” intersperse between the heavy metal records that makes Miyavi’s music palatable to me. However, it is also his splendid blend of different styles that makes his music so interesting. Listen, for instance, to Kabuki Danshi (below), in which Hip Hop is blend with Jazz, Punk Rock and touches of Blues Rock.
It is always his live unplugged performances that impress me the most. Listen to the example below. All the sounds are produced by Miyavi – even the cymbals you hear is actually a tambourine attached to his foot!
I really hope to see this talented young man live one day.
