3–4 April 2025
Maher Shalal Hash Baz – the legendary Japanese ensemble lead by musical polymath, anarchist, filmmaker and ceramicist Tori Kudo – celebrate 40 years as a group with this rare live performance; their first in the UK in over 15 years. Formed with his wife Reiko Kudo they have produced innumerable albums, including a series of solo-offshoot projects. You can find their music on the likes of The Pastels’ Geographic, P.S.F. Records, K Records and more.
Tori Kudo has resisted defining the sound of his band, although in an interview with Tim Footman in Careless Talk Costs Lives magazine (August 2002) he declared: “I am punk.” Psychedelic folk, pop, new york punk and free jazz influences permeate their sound, with guest musicians plucked from both friends of the band and audience members. In many ways, Kudo’s approach to music is one of controlled chaos, stemming from his radical anarchist roots. Across his work, he embraces error as an inescapable result of human nature. As he aptly writes in the liner-notes of From a Summer to Another Summer: “Error in performance dominates MSHB cassette which is like our imperfect life.”
With support from:
This residency is produced in partnership with Professor Paul Hegarty as part of the funded project on Innovative music in Japan, with thanks to University of Nottingham and the AHRC impact ‘accelerator’ fund for support.
