Shugo Tokumaru

Esplanade Recital Studio, Last Friday

It is impossible to recreate Japanese singer-songwriter Shugo Tokumaru’s albums in a live setting. Working with 50 or so instruments, he created densely textured soundscapes that are simply a sheer pleasure to lose oneself in on Exit (2007), L.S.T. (2005) and Night Piece (2004).

At the sold-out gig, he played the guitar while four other musicians played the drums, the toy piano, the accordion, various percussion instruments and a whole lot of bells and whistles.

Exact replicas were clearly out of the question but that did not diminish one’s enjoyment because the child-like sense of wonder and spirit of joyful discovery in his music were all there.

Coming across like a shy, earnest boy, the petite Tokumaru did not say much in his tentative English and there was no need to when he conjured up music that made you smile in delight, then tugged at your heartstrings and made your pulse race. It mattered not one whit that his songs were in Japanese and that most of the audience had little idea what he was actually singing about.

In one key respect, watching him live was preferable to listening to the CDs as one had the thrill of seeing the incredible dexterity of his finger-work on the guitar, such as when he flung himself into Parachute at breakneck speed and it was exhilarating to see his fingers racing along the instrument.

He had another surprise in store when he switched to the ukulele for the encore and sang British synthpop band The Buggles’ Video Killed The Radio Star. Somehow, with his exaggerated emphasis on the line “You are a radio star”, he managed to tickle the crowd’s funny bone.

Tokumaru live ended up being a rather different experience from Tokumaru on record, and happily, they are both to be cherished.

(ST)