blitzandsquash: A reunion bash

Meeting Yohei Kanda and his wife last week reminded me of a set of photos that were still sitting on my hard drive and that are interesting to share. Maybe it is also a good moment, because, as I heard through the grapevine, SingJazz Club is soft opening on Thursday after Sultan Jazz closed its doors a few weeks ago, at the same location.

Why does it make this a good moment to release these shots of a fun bunch of Japanese musicians forming the Blitz and Squash Brass Band from Osaka, Japan? In my eyes a lot of these shots show why live music cannot be ignored. Most of the times it is as exciting to see with your own eyes, how a great bunch of people, doing what they love to do, without any pomp or fanfare, can entertain an audience thoroughly. 

Bringing a fun band and an appreciating audience together on their conditions, appears to be a tough thing to do though. Of course the two crucial elements are a band and audience, but more than all, you need a venue where these two crucial elements can come together and feel equally at ease and at home. For the audience that often times means no more than a space with seating and beverage services. For a band this means the space, not only the physical space and how it delivers the sound but also the space to feel the audience and respond to that.

Several re-openings and management hand-overs of Sultan have shown that doing everything right for everyone, including yourself, is extremely challenging. I am keeping my fingers crossed for the next release. For whatever I have read of the premise on which they decided to reopen with SingJazz I think it is promising.

Now who is Yohei Kanda? This is Yohei Kanda

And this is his wife Eriko Murakami

The couple moved to Singapore a few years back for work. I assume they had to leave Blitz and Squash behind when brought them over just for an evening full of fun and brass. 

Fun and brass only got more when the horn section of our own Fungkimunkees complemented the troop. 

It led to solo combats that almost tore the roof off the venue, and I don’t know what would have remained of that chandelier, if that would have happened.