Kan Mikami

When the Japanese reveal their affinity for the music of America, it is usually in the highly ordered music of jazz or techno. Kan Mikami, on the other hand, takes much of his inspiration from the school of singer/songwriters and blues vocalists. From the rural district of Tsugaru, Mikami's parched voice and plaintive electric guitar (sometimes the only backing) reveals the true spirit of the blues, even though he sings in Japanese. Of course, comparisons to Muddy Waters or Howlin' Wolf are just as far from the truth as Bertolt Brecht or Jacques Brel, but the guitarist weaves ...