【Kaoru Abe as an Underground Idol 】地下アイドルとしての阿部薫 （英訳）～シド・ヴィシャス／爆裂女子／ジミヘン／でんぱ組／明日待子／ジョイ・ディヴィジョン

地下アイドルとしての阿部薫／Kaoru Abe as an Underground Idol（後半）
剛田武 Takeshi Goda　

Kaoru Abe, who became a concept
After graduating from university in 1986, my mind shifted to the rock band I was playing in, and my interest in free jazz and improvised music waned. With the indie boom and the band boom, minor musicians and amateur bands with D.I.Y. activities expanded their activities, but the focus was on rock and pop music, and free jazz and improvised music never saw the light of day. Even in the Heisei era (1989~), when the world was in the midst of the bubble economy, improvised musicians and seekers had no choice but to live in poverty or turn to funk and rock to take advantage of the boom.

Then, in 1989, Kaoru Abe's unreleased live CD "LAST DATE 8.28,1978" and a book "Memoirs of Kaoru Abe" were suddenly released. This triggered a huge wave of Kaoru Abe's publications: "KAORU ABE SOLO LIVE AT GAYA Vol.1-10", 10 CD series of live recordings at Hatsudai "Gaya" in 1990, "STUDIO SESSION 1976.3.12" in 1992, and "Mata no Hi no Yume Monogatari (A Story of a Dream for Another Day) - Solo.1972.1.21" from PSF in 1994. Much later, in 1998, a treasured live videos were released from Cafe Passe-Tamps in Fukushima. The rush of Kaoru Abe's releases reminds me of the confusion that arose after Jimi Hendrix's death in 1970, when many unreleased recordings were released by various labels. However, the difference between Kaoru Abe and Jimi Hendrix is the fact that Abe's works were generally supported by the pure love of their creators.

Kaoru Abe - No.1


阿部薫 1977.9.24 福島「パスタン」


The apex of the reevaluation boom which was driven by a sense of loyalty akin to self-sacrifice, ignoring profit and loss, and wanting to preserve for the world the performances of a beloved, unfortunate musician in his earlier days, was the 1995 film "Endless Waltz". The film, in which popular punk poet Machizo Machida played a roll of Kaoru Abe and depicted Abe's fierce love affair with Izumi Suzuki, was regarded as the Japanese version of Sid & Nancy (an 1986 British film about the short but radical love affair between Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious and his girlfriend Nancy Spungen) and caused a sensation even among young people who were not familiar with jazz or improvised music. As a result, "Kaoru Abe" became more than a saxophonist, but a "concept", and now, decades after his death, he has become a symbol of improvised music not only in Japan but also in the world.

Endless Waltz (1995) Trailer


SID AND NANCY - Official Trailer - 30th Anniversary Edition


Examples of the conceptualization of Kaoru Abe:
1. When I play a record of freaky saxophone to underground music lovers who are not familiar with jazz, they usually ask, "Is this Kaoru Abe?". To them, "crazy saxophone = Kaoru Abe," and the names of other saxophonists are seldom mentioned. For guitar, it is Derek Bailey, not Masayuki Takayanagi.
2. Kaoru Abe's name can be an exemption. No matter how much frowning you get for your haphazard performance, you can usually get away with it by saying that it is an expression dedicated to Kaoru Abe. Whether it is good or bad is another matter.
3. The image of Kaoru Abe as a freak, mentally unstable, speed freak, and drug addict is accepted around the world as a sign of an "Anti-Hero". Therefore, Kaoru Abe is the "outlaw who died young" of the Japanese music world, the only one who can compete with overseas die-young jazz and rock legends such as Charlie Parker, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Sid Vicious, Ian Curtis, and Kurt Cobain.

Jimi hendrix - wild thing, Live at Monterey Pop festival, 1967


Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart [OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO]


Kaoru Abe as an underground idol
"Idol" refers to "a person or thing that is worshipped," "a target of longing," and "a person who has enthusiastic fans". In the Japanese entertainment industry, an "idol" is defined as "a person who shares the process of growth with fans and is active because of the appeal of their very existence," and is often associated with the image of "many fans who are in love and enthusiastically support them". It is said that the first person to be called an idol in Japan was the actress and butoh dancer Matsuko Ashita, who was the star of the Moulin Rouge Shinjuku Theater from the early Showa period to the postwar period. In the 1960s and 1970s, with the advent of the television age, the term "idol" became more common. While the traditional term "Star" was used to describe a person who was perfect in both appearance and art, "Idol" did not have to be 100% perfect, and were characterized by their individuality, immaturity, and friendliness. However, Idols until 1990s, who make maximum use of mass media to appeal to the public, were considered sacred and out of reach of the general public, and were the object of one-way admiration by their fans.

明日待子　上海の街角で


In the mid-2000s, a new image of idols was born with the appearance of "Idols you can meet = AKB48". Through daily live events and contact events such as handshake meetings and Tokuten-kai (special offers), the idols have created a devoted following called "Otaku" and are constantly devising new ways to attract people and surprise them so that they do not get bored. The niche music genres such as metal, punk, shoegaze, progressive rock, noise and electronica are incorporated to appeal as individuality. They release their music on CDs, downloads, streaming, YouTube, etc., but instead of aiming for the top of the charts in terms of sales, they aim to increase the number of people at their shows and to perform at larger venues, especially at the Nippon Budokan. They became to be called "Underground Idols" or "Live Idols". However, the activities of idols, to which they devote their adolescence, coincide with the time when they make decisions about their future life plans. It is difficult to live forever singing and dancing. At some point, "graduation", retirement from idol activities, is bound to happen. Knowing in advance that this will not last forever, the complicity of idols and otaku is to act out a pseudo-romance for a limited time.

でんぱ組.inc 武道館決定の瞬間。


Let's take a look back at the life of Kaoru Abe. Since he made his debut at the age of 19 at "Oreo" a jazz venue in Kawasaki, he has devoted himself to performing and released only two leader albums, "Kaitaiteki Koukan (duo with Masayuki Takayanagi)" and "Mort À Crédit" during his lifetime. The few but devoted followers were all born out of fascination with Abe's live performances. The devotion of his followers, consisting not only of general audiences but also of critics, live house owners, musicians and cultural figures, is evident in the recurrence phenomenon supported by love discussed earlier and in the passion of the writings in this book. I don't need to reiterate that Abe had a less than perfect (and even annoying) character, including in his personal life. The accumulation of the mixed feelings of acquaintances, friends, family members, fans, and all those who were involved with him is as richly aromatic as the chokingly hot smell of the underground idol scene. The amazing technique he acquired by practicing the saxophone to achieve a speed that others cannot catch up with is a self armament that is common to "楽曲派 gakkyoku-ha (music-oriented) idols" who try to differentiate themselves with their special musicality. His fickleness in being late to concerts and sometimes even skipping them is a technique of "病み yami (sick) idols" who try to attract attention by revealing the darkness in their hearts, saying "I want to escape," "I want to die," and "Everybody die. In other words, Kaoru Abe had unconsciously anticipated the way underground idols should be.

Kaoru Abe - Mort A Credit 1995 CD1 & CD2 (Full Album)


It is interesting to note that while many of the main sites of underground idols are underground live houses, many of the venues for Kaoru Abe's free jazz performances were located on the upper floors of buildings such as New Jazz Hall in Shinjuku, Gaya in Hatsudai, Ayler in Sapporo, Goodman in Ogikubo, Kid Ailack Art Hall in Meidaimae, Pulcinella in Shibuya, and Minor Cafe in Kichijoji. If it was free jazz that inherited the old saying, "Fools and smoke go up high", it was underground idols hid beneath the ground, saying "I want to crawl under a rock", attracted by the gravitational pull of the underground. I guess the reason why Kaoru Abe, the link between the two groups, went on to a Mort À Crédit or slowly death was probably because he lost his place in neither of the loft nor the underground. Aside from the performance itself, his insistence on speed, "I want to have a sense of speed that exceeds the seasons," could be said to be an expression of his desire to free himself from the gravity of the "place/field". It is the collective consciousness of human beings that creates the "place/field". For Abe, who has always been a solitary performer, the peer pressure of the collective was an unbearable enemy of his existence. However, unlike the underground idols who knew they had an expiration date, Abe's self-consciousness could only continue to stare into an eternal hell. The only way to end his torment was to graduate from his underground idol activities as "Kaoru Abe," in other words, to be liberated from this world. There was no future for Kaoru Abe, the underground idol who was born too early. If he were born in the age of social networking services, he could have simply deleted his SNS account and then "graduated" completely from his virtual idol life.

Kaoru Abe No Future 阿部薰没有未来 at CRY IN PUBLIC, 15 November 2019


Considering the fact that there is a noise band called Kaoru Abe No Future in Beijing, it would not be surprising to see an underground idol taking over the concept of Kaoru Abe. In fact, there is even an idol song inspired by "Sid & Nancy" (" Nancey" by 爆裂女子 -Burst Girl-), so it may not be a dream to see a day when an idol influenced by "Endless Waltz" debuts with a song called "なしくずしの死 Nashikuzushi No Shi (Japanese title of Mort À Crédit)" or "Death of a Narcissist".

爆裂女子-BURST GIRL-/ナンシー【OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO】


僕の後
地下アイドルが
ついてきた

『阿部薫２０２０　僕の前に誰もいなかった』
著者：大友良英、他＝著 定価
価格：2,700円＋税
発行：文遊社



阿部薫の新刊本が刊行され話題を喚起している。阿部薫のCDが４作品もリリースされた、いわば「阿部薫イヤー」のトリをとる形となった。阿部薫は70年代を彗星のように駆け抜けた天才サックス奏者で、伝説にとどまることなくいまだにカリスマ的人気を誇る。編集は 1990年に『阿部薫覚書』を刊行したランダムスケッチの大島彰、版元は『阿部薫 1949-1978』を刊行した文遊社で、共に阿部薫本に関わってきた両者が渾身の力を込めた出版だけに読み応えのある内容となっている。先行本では巻頭が日本のジャズ界の先達・副島輝人(1931,1.14 –2014.7.12)、新刊ではメディアを横断して活躍する現役の音楽家・大友良英 (1959~)に象徴されるように執筆陣が一世代から二世代アップデートされ、阿部薫を客観視している内容が多いことが時代の流れを感じさせる。若い読者はそれだけ伝説の「阿部薫」をより身近に感じることができるだろう。

四六判変形、上製、320頁で定価は2,700円＋税。カバー写真は芥正彦。
詳細は、版元のサイトを参照；
http://www.bunyu-sha.jp/books/detail_abe2020.html
（コメントはJazzTokyoより引用）