Fusion DJ: Shunji Moriwaki
August 22, 2003 | 12:00am
Last Wednesday, August 13, DJ Shunji Moriwaki played a steady and soulful set at the Enterprise Center’s Aqua. Big Fish Productions brought in DJ Moriwaki of Eightball Records from New York City. DJ Moriwaki dispels the common notion of hip-hop and house being at the opposite ends of the music spectrum. Growing up in Japan during his teen years, he was first introduced to the tables of steel through rap during 1989. While first being intensely immersed in hip-hop, he realized that beat matching, rather than turntablism, was more to his liking. His departure from Japan was championed by one of the members of Deee-Lite, more known for their massively popular hit Groove is in the Heart.
Not letting culture shock stop him from penetrating New York, he first started spinning in a club called Nels. This is where Shunji acquired the much-needed flying hours to acclimate to the culture and type of music of his newfound home. Shunji’s big break came from an associate seeing the potential in him. John Creamer, arguably one of the most eminent torchbearers of the progressive house movement, signed him to produce a record for Eightball’s label entitled "Shirushi O Chodai". Now that he got his name out, he started producing more and more songs. Of those that he produced in a short amount of time, the song entitled Chelsea Press 2 hit a cord in the masses. It sampled couples doing the nasty over-the-phone and laid it over a deep-house groove. At once, the song was sexy and provocative, yet wholesome enough to be accessible to mainstream ears, reaching Billboard’s Top Ten chart.
He struck while the iron was hot; he began simultaneously playing in the Sound Factory, Tunnel, and Limelight. At this point, he adopted the big room sound that was so prevalent at that time. My virgin ears were lucky enough to be able to hear what was being churned out during the mid-’90s courtesy of my brothers who lived in the States. While other kids my age asked for clothes and toys as pasalubong, all I required of them were mixed tapes and CD singles. Taking the energy of trance, the spirit of house, and the edginess of New York, the sound simply blew my mind. My experience was akin to Ewan McGregor’s in Trainspotting’s last scene, wherein he knew from the moment the first drum beat erupted from the speakers that it was going to be a start of a new movement. Junior Vasquez, Jonathan Peters, and Danny Tenaglia best represented the new type of sound that filled the airwaves.
When I asked Shunji where I could go right now in NYC for the same raw musical energy, he mentioned only three clubs: Arc, Centro Fly and Roxy. Shunji said that this lack of clubs could be attributed to new places having to file for a Cabaret license. This means that aside from paying thousands of dollars to get a liquor license, an establishment has to also fork out more dinero so that people can merely dance. The Cabaret license has been the death knell to the dreams of entrepreneurs and music lovers alike, having very much the same effects of the "No Smoking" law enacted in Makati. It seems like legislature always seems to get better of the nightlife. To all party people, let this not stop you from having fun! When I asked what makes for an awesome party, Shunji mentioned that having great company and music should more than compensate for the absence of nicotine.
Currently, Shunji wants to harness the innate talent he sees in Asians. He wants to be what Deee-Lite was to him: the connection that helps people convert hobbies into their dreams. This is because he truly believes that Asians have the potential to add spice to the homogenous and formulaic songs coming out in the market. Also, he sees that Asians in the music industry are not united under one banner. They still see divisions along ethnic lines. Chinese cling towards themselves, while Koreans and Japanese do the same. In addition to this, he not only wants to discover people in the house scene, but also from the hip-hop genre. His mission can be simply articulated in M-Factor’s recent hit Come Together, which has been reverberating in all clubs worldwide. A male voice chants in highly synthesized filtered disco action, "I wanna live that dream tonight... Want to believe that we can fly... Come Together... We’ve got to come together!!!"
Coming together. Isn’t that what music and life is all about?
emailus at ystylecrew@yahoo.com
Not letting culture shock stop him from penetrating New York, he first started spinning in a club called Nels. This is where Shunji acquired the much-needed flying hours to acclimate to the culture and type of music of his newfound home. Shunji’s big break came from an associate seeing the potential in him. John Creamer, arguably one of the most eminent torchbearers of the progressive house movement, signed him to produce a record for Eightball’s label entitled "Shirushi O Chodai". Now that he got his name out, he started producing more and more songs. Of those that he produced in a short amount of time, the song entitled Chelsea Press 2 hit a cord in the masses. It sampled couples doing the nasty over-the-phone and laid it over a deep-house groove. At once, the song was sexy and provocative, yet wholesome enough to be accessible to mainstream ears, reaching Billboard’s Top Ten chart.
He struck while the iron was hot; he began simultaneously playing in the Sound Factory, Tunnel, and Limelight. At this point, he adopted the big room sound that was so prevalent at that time. My virgin ears were lucky enough to be able to hear what was being churned out during the mid-’90s courtesy of my brothers who lived in the States. While other kids my age asked for clothes and toys as pasalubong, all I required of them were mixed tapes and CD singles. Taking the energy of trance, the spirit of house, and the edginess of New York, the sound simply blew my mind. My experience was akin to Ewan McGregor’s in Trainspotting’s last scene, wherein he knew from the moment the first drum beat erupted from the speakers that it was going to be a start of a new movement. Junior Vasquez, Jonathan Peters, and Danny Tenaglia best represented the new type of sound that filled the airwaves.
When I asked Shunji where I could go right now in NYC for the same raw musical energy, he mentioned only three clubs: Arc, Centro Fly and Roxy. Shunji said that this lack of clubs could be attributed to new places having to file for a Cabaret license. This means that aside from paying thousands of dollars to get a liquor license, an establishment has to also fork out more dinero so that people can merely dance. The Cabaret license has been the death knell to the dreams of entrepreneurs and music lovers alike, having very much the same effects of the "No Smoking" law enacted in Makati. It seems like legislature always seems to get better of the nightlife. To all party people, let this not stop you from having fun! When I asked what makes for an awesome party, Shunji mentioned that having great company and music should more than compensate for the absence of nicotine.
Currently, Shunji wants to harness the innate talent he sees in Asians. He wants to be what Deee-Lite was to him: the connection that helps people convert hobbies into their dreams. This is because he truly believes that Asians have the potential to add spice to the homogenous and formulaic songs coming out in the market. Also, he sees that Asians in the music industry are not united under one banner. They still see divisions along ethnic lines. Chinese cling towards themselves, while Koreans and Japanese do the same. In addition to this, he not only wants to discover people in the house scene, but also from the hip-hop genre. His mission can be simply articulated in M-Factor’s recent hit Come Together, which has been reverberating in all clubs worldwide. A male voice chants in highly synthesized filtered disco action, "I wanna live that dream tonight... Want to believe that we can fly... Come Together... We’ve got to come together!!!"
Coming together. Isn’t that what music and life is all about?
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