NL premiere

Finger-picked open-tuned guitars are accompanied by throat singing and the kohkin (the Japanese jaw harp) in the wonderful music of Posuposu Otani. Across his blues-but-not-blues and unfolky folk, Posuposu Otani develops a peculiarly sun-tinged type of Japanese Americana. Experimenting with simple yet heartfelt cyclical guitar phrases, Otani opens his mouth and lets out peculiar, rumbling bursts of distinct throat singing – blending numerous kinds of transcontinental traditional song into a unique sound. His timeworn songs are as warm as the guitar tone that dances across them. Using just an electric guitar and a humble tube-amp, Posuposu Otani's ragas, compositions, and songs arrive at the ear like whispered tales from an old friend. Harmonically rich, one can tell that his music spills out from a life of vivid experience: from his time spent in San Francisco’s skateboarding scene to his travels through India and the Republic of Sakha to study the kohkin. He performs as Posuposu Otani for the first time outside of Japan at Rewire 2025, ahead of a new album, forthcoming on experimental label 33-33.