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Heady exploration of the blues guitar lexicon on this evening with The Fuji - Koichi Fujishima on National Steel Guitar/Vocals and Paul Shearsmith on Pocket Trumpet, Tuned Gas Main, Baliphone and Amazonian Hand Flute.
THE FUJII
The Fujii are:
Koichi Fujishima (Fuji') - National Steel Guitar and Vocals
Paul Shearsmith - Pocket Trumpet, Tuned Gas Main, Baliphone and Amazonian Hand Flute.
The Fujii bring the blues to the twenty first century in a way that many critics have acclaimed as being at once, more authentic and more groundbreaking than many other artists who continue to explore this traditional music.They fuse deep traditional blues and extraordinary blues singing [in Japanese] with various Japanese folk and classical. Meanwhile Shearsmith's heritage, as an alumni of John Stevens' free music melting pot and member of sonic sculpture outfit Echo City, brings a further avant garde edge to the sound.
'Questions of authenticity are redundant with music this faithful to the Delta blues spirit'. - Mike Barnes, The WIRE
'their first song was a raucous country style blues that inspired me to exclaim that I had not heard such an intense blues performance since seeing Son House at the 100 Club in 1967.' - Charlie Gillet after the bands performance at the 2002 Thames Festival.
'this extraordinary thing....a blues slide player from Japan and a bloke from Kentish Town who blows down a gas main...It's an unlikely combination, but it works' - Andy Kershaw
Mike Cooper writing in Folk Roots stated 'their music is a true piece of outsider folk art.
'Fuji is truer to the spirit of Delta blues than a number of self-professed expert exponents of this music, the resulting music is never less than beautiful and at times quite stunning' - Michael Prince in Blues in Britain
