A Japanese family living in New Zealand once hired a piano teacher for their daughter. When it turned out that he was actually a flute instructor, young Miho Wada began a musical journey that would eventually take her around the world. With influences ranging from Anime theme songs, traditional Japanese music and Cuban salsa, Miho Wada has crafted a unique international sound around her passionate flute playing.
Now joined by her bandmates Colin Hunter, John McNab and Tala 'Ofamo'oni, she is following up the release of "The Traveller" and "Traveling Bugs and Talking Shoes" early this year with their first Japanese Punk Jazz album "Postcards to Your Bed" and plans to perform at next year's SXSW in Austin, Texas.
So come take a listen to the music and story of Miho Wada and learn the answer to a most curious riddle: What animal once tried to steal her hat on the way to school?
On November 27, 2009 Miho Wada was kind enough to give an interview to Andrew from J-Pop World. All photos courtesy of Miho Wada.
Miyazaki is such a beautiful place, right by the sea surrounded by palm trees... I went back to visit a few years ago and I was totally shocked by how beautiful the place still is. I had forgotten how colorful it was. I have never yet been to anywhere else in the world so colorful. The green of plantation is the greenest I have ever known and the blue sky, sea and big yellow and red flowers make the place almost like a paradise.
People usually think of Japan as a busy place like Tokyo and Osaka, but the countryside living of Miyazaki is very different to that of the city life. The pace of living is so much slower and the local dialect (people from outside Kyushu wouldn't really understand) is very unique, strong and musical. After school we used to go to the beach, biking along the little passageways between the rice fields and strawberry farms as short cuts and spending all afternoon playing or swimming.
Do you have one or two other memories that stand out from those days?
My primary school was located on a small hill in an area called Kibana. There were 3 wild monkeys living on that hill in the bush and it was actually quite scary going to school everyday because monkeys really liked the hats that children wore to school. They would jump down from the trees onto our backpacks (randoseru) and try to take away our hats. It was compulsory to go to and from school in groups so that if the monkeys come and attacked we could try and scare them away!
I started having music lessons at the Yamaha School of Music at age four, but I started singing my own songs as soon as I could speak. I used to sit on the toilet every morning and sing my own "made up" songs until?you know? So that's probably as young as 2 years old or so. My songs apparently were really terrible but very funny. Cousins used to listen to me outside the bathroom door and giggle. So I suppose it was always in me to write music and sing songs.
Your life took a major change when your family moved to New Zealand. Tell us about that change and how it affected your life.
It all happened very quickly. In 1995 throughout the season my father was watching the yacht race called America's Cup. He was so impressed with this country with such a small population (compared to Japan!) that won the cup title against the big team from America. Team New Zealand had ran out of the money before the final race and the team captain Sir Peter Blake had to fly home to fundraise by selling red socks. On the team's return to New Zealand there was a big parade where everyone was wearing these red socks they had bought to support team New Zealand and show their support by wearing these socks on the parade. My father was so moved by the whole event, people, the victory, Sir Peter Blake, everything -- he really wanted to be part of them.
So moving to New Zealand seemed the natural thing to do. My father wanted to become part of the people in the other part of the world, so I suppose it is scary for some people to move and start a new life, but for me it was so exciting to meet these people who shared the same love that my father had. I still remember my father telling me about his ideas and plans floating in the sea in Miyazaki while we were body-boarding waiting for the waves.
Were you always being raised in a bilingual household?
Not at all. I didn't speak any English when my father thought of moving to New Zealand. In fact none of us spoke more than "high school book" English. First year of living in New Zealand was a bit hard, trying to communicate and trying to make friends in a country where people spoke a different language. Though the best thing about this was that my family was bonded so strongly through trying to help each other in the new country, we became a much tighter unit than while we were in Japan going about our usual business.
Your globetrotting would continue when you made the decision to move to London to attend the Trinity College of Music. Tell us about that decision.
I was actually looking for a piano teacher when I arrived in New Zealand and found a teacher through an advertisement in the newspaper. Though when he turned up at our house, he happened to be a flute teacher. There was a moment of awkwardness, but my father had a flute that he had tried to learn many years ago. So I had my first flute lesson on an old flute, in broken English, with an amazing teacher called Tony Ferner. I started playing the flute purely by accident but fell in love with it immediately so that I couldn't stop playing all day all night.
After a few years of learning the flute, there was a guest performer and teacher from London, a principal flute player from the London Symphony Orchestra. Through my teacher's recommendation I was able to have lessons with Paul Edmund Davies and he was so encouraging and enthusiastic about my playing that it inspired me to go and study with him in London.
What type of music were you developing during your college years?
I have always loved Latin music and Japanese music. At the Trinity College of Music in London I met a guitarist called Noel Billingsley, who was half Japanese and spoke with an Osakan accent. We started a flute and guitar duo and we used to play all the Japanese hit songs we sung as kids and also spent afternoons jamming Bossa Nova, Brazilian songs, Tango, Latin standards etc?We became the most "booked" function band in the whole college and we played at many castles, palaces, headquarters of companies and so on. It was amazing to find someone who had a similar cultural background as mine, being lost in the big city London, then playing music together in these old historical English buildings.
Tell us about the first year you began writing and performing music as a professional.
This year is actually the first time I am performing my songs in public! I have always had melodies in my head and I would play that during a background gig or during solos, but I never thought I could do this ?performing my own songs worldwide!!
Nigel Kennedy actually spotted me playing my tunes on flute and he was very encouraging about it that I had thought about starting my own band and playing my music in 2003, though I was still too young and lacked confidence. I needed to go and play for many bands and polish my skills first.
Before the end of college I had a professional job playing for the National Orchestra of Malta in Valletta. I was so proud of myself for achieving the goals of becoming a professional orchestral player, though within a few months I had realized that was not what I was destined to do! It was so terrible losing directions and I was not so sure what to do next. I naturally went back to Trinity College of Music to finish my studies (which I am so grateful for them being so flexible) and taught music lessons until I finally found the Cuban rhythm.
At this point I don't think our readers will be surprised to learn that you again made a major move in your life in 2008. Can you tell us the story of how you discovered "the Cuban rhythm" and why you decided to travel to Havana?
Going to Cuba was definitely the most significant trip that I have ever made. One day I was watching TV in London and saw the Buena Vista Social Club film. I was in tears. I was in love. I had to go to Cuba and learn their songs. I bought all the recording of the Buena Vista Social Club I could find and learnt to play all the trumpet solos.
A few months later I flew from London to Havana to join a summer school in Havana. As soon as I arrived in Havana I was overwhelmed with all the music coming from all corners of the city. I had coaching from the Sierra Maestra and Buena Vista Social Club players. The whole experience was just so amazing and I was totally in love with Cuban music that I had to go back to spend a longer time living within their music.
Six months later, I left my teaching jobs, session work, all the bands I had been playing for, my flat in London, everything... and arrived in Santiago de Cuba with an intention to learn it all.
What memories stand out from your studies in Cuba?
I thought I was going to die on the streets of Santiago de Cuba. As soon as I arrived, 5 cyclones came to hit us within 3 weeks. I had grown up in Miyazaki with many typhoons every summer so I did not think I would be scared of cyclones, but you are not safe in Cuban homes in the way you would be in Miyazaki homes. The rain went through the roofs, wind blew away homes, people were evacuated and the streets flooded with water. It was so seriously dangerous.
But at the same time it was the most beautiful event ever. Without electricity, telephone, television, facing danger and possible death, all you have is your friends and families. We all gathered under the strongest roofs and played music and sang songs in the candlelight. I will never forget the happiness and warmth in my heart from those days in the middle of 5 cyclones.
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