Fifteen years ago, electronic music was barely a concept in Japan. With little exposure, even in America, only a few select people made the effort to bring the style to the dance floors of Tokyo. Even fewer stuck with it through the hard years before the culture opened up. Still, a couple of people managed to make themselves prominent producers and DJ's while living in Japan.

One of them, Fumi Kondoh, born in Tokyo in 1965, remains a prominent producer/DJ's who has worked through all the struggles to end up on top today.

Raised in Tokyo, Fumi Kondoh found his initial interest in the club culture and electronic music as a boy. "When I was like 13 or 14 years old my brother was two years older. He was already going to Roppongi and he started bringing back mix tapes."

'78 and '79 surely didn't carry the same style of dance music that we associate with today, so what was it that filled the mix tapes that started Fumi on his path to fame?

"They had like Earth, Wind, and Fire, Rick James, and that sort of stuff."

DJing first in 1985 at the Square Building in Ropungi, Fumi eventually ended up moving to the US. "After I finished my college in Tokyo, I moved to the US. First I went to the middle of nowhere in Pennsylvania. It was a small town called Meadville. It was a very Amish town and the reason why I went there is because my father went to that school about 40 years ago. My father passed away when I was 18. He doesn't even know that I went to the same school. After I graduated that school I went to the Cleveland area. Basically, my town of Meadville didn't have any culture. No civilization basically. Cleveland was the nearest town that had a real scene. When people hear Cleveland they don't think it is a very nice area. They have a really nice scene though, at least when I was there. During my school years I stayed away from DJing. I started DJing when I was 18 in Tokyo, but when I was in school I didn't have the time. When I graduated I wasn't really doing much, so I went down to the clubs and watched all the DJ's. I told these people that I was a DJ before and some of them gave me a chance to spin. Actually the owner of one of the clubs booked me for every Saturday night at his club in Cleveland."

Though he was one of the first Japanese DJ's to get started outside of New York City, it was only a matter of time before NYC's influence grabbed hold of Fumi Kondoh. "Living in Cleveland, it was only like a 6 hour drive to NYC so we always went there to see what was really going on. My first house experience was from the 98.7 KISS FM radio station in NYC during the mid 80's. Every weekend they have a Hip Hop show from 9 till midnight and from midnight till 3 they have a mix show. Sometimes I was like "what is this music" and "who is this." It was the same bass beat and at first it was a bit boring to me. Around 1990 I went to the Red Zone were David Morales was spinning. During that time period David Morales was more progressive. He never played the today's DefMix style back then. I was really into that house music, the progressive stuff."

During that time, Fumi Kondoh was introduced to the man that would become one of his biggest influences, Junior Vasquez. "It was actually in 1990. At that time he had to play Hip Hop and House together because the crowd wasn't really into just house music then. One reason he is my favorite DJ is because normally in house music or techno all the DJ's try to mix all the songs in a basic way. Like from the lead out into the next records intro, which I do not is creative enough. Junior is almost like a Hip Hop DJ though. He mixes one track to the next in the middle. He also does tricky things with all the equipment in the DJ booth. No one can see what he is really doing, so he is like playing half PA and half records."

After moving back to Tokyo, Fumi Kondoh found himself on the path to production when his friends, Atom and Co-Fusion, asked for his help. "They were making tracks but they don't really speak that much English. So one day this guy called me up and asked me if I could help by contacting the label and that sort of thing. I agreed and helped with things for them. I was actually excited that they could release a record from Germany and the US. So I asked them to sort of teach me. They taught me how to make the track and I asked them everything like what I should buy and how I should do it all."

With a little knowledge passed on from friends, Fumi Kondoh continued to produce music and eventually got a few tracks on 8-Ball, Groovalicious, and some other labels. "I don't have any exclusive contact with any label so whenever I feel like sending my demo to those labels I just do it. If those A&R guys like it they just buy it."

Fumi Kondoh also sends a copy of each of his tracks to Junior Vasquez who sometimes plays them at his club. Mostly unreleased material. "The reason I make music is because I want Junior Vasquez to play my track."

Oddly enough, the first time Fumi ever heard one of his tracks was not during a Junior Vasquez set. "It was a song called Oh Yeeaah on Groovalicious. The first time we heard it, Victor Calderon played it." And the feeling is... "Great. The guy who is dancing right next to me doesn't even know who I am, but he knows how my track breaks down and all."

A lot of credit is given to producers for the effort they give their projects. Fumi Kondoh is no less complete in the thought and time given to his music. "I imagine that I am standing in the middle of the dance floor at Twilo. I imagine if it would make me dance."

But it is not about imagination alone, though. A lot of time, energy and money go into learning the equipment and keeping up with technology. Computer advancements have brought a new era to music production as well. "When I started it was all midi. It had to be midi, so I think midi equipment is much easier. If I use software then maybe sometimes I cannot figure out what's wrong. If I am using midi equipment and something is wrong, I can just turn it off and on again."

Yet the question remains - will the new computer production bring the right quality to the electronic music market? "Dance music is something that people dance to. I think if people can dance to it they will probably like it. So either way I think it should be all right. I don't have much equipment in my house. I have just a few key pieces of equipment like the 909-rythym machine, a JD-800, an Akai Sampler and I bought a brand new E-MU synthesizer."

Seems like the hardest part for Fumi Kondoh is finding the time to produce and DJ while maintaining a family. That's right, Fumi Kondoh is a husband and a father on top of all his musical accomplishments. Married now for some 8 years, Fumi Kondoh shows a true devotion to his wife, Yoko, and their child. "She (Yoko) is very supportive. Without her I could not do it. When we didn't have a child she used to come to the club and we would go everywhere together. Now we cannot do that as much. When we go to NYC, sometimes she complains that I keep seeing all those industry people. So we try to go other places, like last January we went to Guam and we went to Hawaii last May. Just to hang out and have fun."

Between family, DJing, and flying around the world, it's a challenge to find time to produce as well. "When I don't feel like making music I just don't do it. You know when you are tired or something and you want to make a track and it just doesn't sound right. I only produce when it feels right."

Discouragement and nervousness can also take their toll on the DJ or producers mind and, although Fumi Kondoh has overcome the nervousness of being a DJ, he still finds some discouragement when producing music. "When I am making a track I think it is cool, but after I send it to the label and they don't reply to me, I think that it wasn't something I should have sent them. Most of the tracks I am making I think are okay though."

Of course, every DJ and producer has personal battles to fight. Most have thought about throwing in the towel at one time or another, but Fumi is very quick to say he has never wanted to give up on his music. This may be in part due to the balance he receives from his job. "Well, I work for a company that imports American products. I do all the problem matters. When a problem happens they have me take care of it because I can speak English. It is my family's business. I have a very good balance for music and what really matters. I am in a very comfortable position right now. I have been working there ever since I came back to Tokyo."

This comfortable balance Fumi speaks of includes the choice, for now, to make his home in Japan. Fumi explains, "Due to my job I probably cannot live anywhere else. My wife would really like to move though. Currently Japan is fine I guess. If I have a chance I would like to move to NYC though. We want to live in NYC to keep up with the music scene but at the same time living in LA might be nicer. We like the climate. If we were super rich then we would have a nice life in NYC. If I lived in California though, we could still fly to NYC in about 4 hours."

When asked why he'd be willing to live so far from home, Fumi Kondoh shares his philosophy. "I enjoy American clubs most. Well, Twilo is a huge gay club. It is also very polite. For example, if Yoko looks tired or something then some couple will just let her sit down where they were sitting. That won't happen in Japan. People at gay clubs are very friendly and very nice."

Fumi Kondoh is probably one of the most grounded individuals in the electronic music industry. Juggling everything from a family to two careers, he never seems to lose his smile. So if you end up in Tokyo then make sure you stop by the famous Maniac Love club, where Fumi spins every third Thursday. Or maybe you might just find him dancing to his latest track next to you out on the floor of Twilo, NYC.

For more info: www.ggv.net

Brent Csutoras
March 2001