Who in the World is Night Tempo? (Part 1 translation)

 

Over the last several years, the name of Night Tempo（夜韻）, South Korean DJ and producer, has been heard in the realms of City Pop and Future Funk.

His first claim to fame was probably his Vaporwave or Future Funk take on Mariya Takeuchi's（竹内まりや）"Plastic Love", the gateway to City Pop that burst open with a mighty flood. Vaporwave/Future Funk has been hit and miss with me although there have been a few songs which are fun. Ultimately though, I think that the original versions still hold sway. Recently as his name spreads through world music, Night Tempo has also been collaborating with other folks in the Japanese music industry and that even includes enka veteran Takashi Hosokawa（細川たかし）which I did note in an article last September. My fellow KKP contributor Joana Bernardo has also given her shoutout to him via "My Late Year Idol Discoveries".

For Christmas, my good friend and former "Kayo Kyoku Plus" contributor JTM was kind enough to send me a couple of Japanese books on City Pop, one of which was "Japanese City Pop 100 ~ Selected by Night Tempo" (by the way, I do love the illustrations by tree 13). The book contains his one hundred recommended City Pop songs along with a few tidbits here and there. One of those extras is an interview of the man himself by music writer and editor Takashi Ikegami（池上尚志）of 303 Books (pages 86-89). So, just out of an interest to let folks know about what Night Tempo's thoughts are on the music that he has delved into, I'm providing a translation of that interview in two parts. Also, the opinions given here are those of Night Tempo and Mr. Ikegami alone.

Who in the World is Night Tempo?

Ikegami: Where did you come up with the name of Night Tempo?

Night Tempo: I used to be a programmer and since a lot of my work was at night, it wasn't too hard to come up with the name once I decided to make songs that I could listen to at that time of the day. Ultimately, I thought it was great that I could get a name that had a connection with my own work in music. The kanji form of my name was something that my Hong Kong friend, Davy, came up with. That second character（韻）has the image of "rhythm".

Ikegami: Why did you become a musician?

Night Tempo: I'd always wanted to work in music since I was in junior high, but my parents were against it. So, until I was in my thirties, I'd been an office worker. It was about when I reached 32 or 33 that I made the switch to becoming a musician. You know, a programmer sorts through functions one by one and brings them together to create applications. So, for me as well, I first gained a grand world view, and from there, I amassed the functions one by one for what I wanted to do, including songs. I feel that I was able to realize this by using all of my abilities to do what I can do.

Ikegami: You were the trigger for the popularity in Mariya Takeuchi's "Plastic Love". On top of that, I think that you had a large role to play in the spread worldwide of City Pop. But originally, was the groundwork there in South Korea for City Pop to be heard?

Night Tempo: Not at all in the beginning. But Koreans are quick to pick up on music trends on YouTube and on the Internet, so when they started to listen to the music, then it began to spread.

Ikegami: Did you listen to Japanese music as if you felt it were Western music?

Night Tempo: No. Japanese music is Japanese music and Western music is Western music. I was admiring fashion, art and Japanese culture from the 1980s.There was such an impact from Japanese things.

Ikegami: I was wondering from the Korean point of view whether there was a familiarity with Japanese culture as something very close to them. Did your like of Japanese 80s music stem from that point?

Night Tempo: Yes, I think so. There was the image of Japanese products being things of quality, so even Japanese movies were very popular. There were many many examples of Korean pop songs ripping off of Japanese pop songs. Contemporary K-Pop sounds very stylish but from the 1990s into the early half of the 2000s, Korean pop music came off as very cheap and that was also true for the overall music scene there. On the other hand, I feel that Japanese music was attractive because it was created well through a lot of money put into it so that even a child could clearly get it.

Ikegami: What's interesting is that in Japan, although what's known to be City Pop and 80s idol music are seen as two different genres, you feel that they are one and the same.

Night Tempo: That's right, and that's not my own opinion but the opinion of overseas City Pop fans, more or less. They've made this determination by "I think this is City Pop because it has these kinds of visuals, it has this kind of musicality and it has this type of mood". City Pop as known in Japan is basically AOR and then fusion. However, the idol music of that time was largely made by musicians from the New Music genre. For instance, Eiichi Ohtaki produced Seiko Matsuda while Tatsuro Yamashita wrote for the Johnny's Entertainment groups. So, in the end, there's no daylight between them, is there?

J-Canuck back here. How do you feel about his opinions so far? As for me, I'm not totally sold on that last point about there being no difference between City Pop and idol music, and it's not just because I lived in Japan for a long time. In any case, Part 2 will be out this time next week.