Since 2009, Osaka resident Duane Levi, 54, has organized the Kansai Music Conference, an event bringing musicians from all over the world to the region for the chance to connect and learn more about the Japanese music scene. With the 15th edition weeks away and even bigger plans coinciding with Expo 2025, Levi talks about creating the event, Kansai’s music community and more.
1. How did you first encounter Japanese music? It was through an anime called “Bubblegum Crisis.” In the very first episode of it, there’s a song called “Konya wa Hurricane.” It’s really ’80s. The downbeat is on the one — dun, dun, dun, dun. The bassist is just playing that one note for everything. And so that kind of was, like, the determining factor that made Western music and Japanese music different. Western is on the one and the three, but Japanese is on every downbeat. So I was just like, oh, wow, it’s kind of like a marching theme. So, yeah, it was basically anime that really got me into Japanese music.
2. How did you come to live in Japan? Basically, it started with anime. I had some musician friends that I knew, and they learned Japanese through watching anime. I’m from North Carolina, so I met a Japanese person there, and she taught me through a community class, and started introducing me to Japanese people that she worked with who lived in North Carolina. I talked to them, and I was like, “Oh, cool, cool. I want to visit Japan.” So I visited Japan, and then visited again. The second time, I was like, “Wow, I can see myself moving here.” I visited a third time for job interviews, and that was in 2000, so I got an interview and moved to Japan in 2001. I lived in Yamaguchi for three years, but I really envisioned myself living in a bigger city, especially in the Kansai area.