Biography
Formed as a three-piece unit, Asa-Chang And Junray unites Koichi Asakura with tabla specialist U-Zhaan and Hidehiko Urayama, the programmer who deliberately avoids appearing onstage. Their sound fuses playful exoticism with cutting-edge futurism and ancient spiritual resonance, pitting masterful tabla technique against fragmented, electronically manipulated vocals. Asakura, the Tokyo-based tabla authority and frequent session player, describes the resulting hybrid as a Möbius strip that joins memory and innovation. Although he regularly travels with blockbuster J-Pop outfits, he maintains that his near-sacred work belongs in intimate settings such as cafés, galleries, and, curiously, hair salons. While criss-crossing Japan in 2002, the group even performed inside a sake brewery. Pieces including “Goo-Gung-Gung,” “Preach,” and the single “Hana”—the Japanese word for flower and standout track on the trio’s 2002 debut—find Eastern percussion, toys, brass, vintage analogue gear, strings, and assorted debris pounded into a disorienting yet exhilarating sonic tangle. Leaf, the cult British imprint, assembled Jun Ray Song Chang from earlier Japanese material, among them the Tabla Magma Bongo EP issued on Cornelius’s Trattoria label and a mini-album that appeared on Hot Cha Records.
Albums
