Perhaps it was fitting that Kagero — a Japanese, gypsy rock band helmed by Bedford-Stuyvesant frontman Kaz Fujimoto — was playing in a Colombian bar in Queens named after an island in the West Indies.
The crowd at last month’s show at D’Antigua, mainly from South America and Mexico, responded to Kagero’s joyously, overstuffed gypsy-inspired world music. After all, it’s not often in Jackson Heights you see a skinny, British-accented Japanese rocker from Brooklyn who will also belt a few cover songs in Spanish. Like many a budding idol, glamorous lead singer Fujimoto could be everything to everyone.
Attired like a Japanese Jarvis Cocker on acid, Fujimoto had opted to wear a black leather jacket, a children’s plastic amulet and a crazy tie-dyed shirt, capped off with both a red visor and racing goggles.
“People who play in a band are not really wild,” Fujimoto nearly whispered to GO Brooklyn before the show, despite his outlandish getup. “I think they are very shy people.”
The eccentric man singing nouvelle gypsy songs had the audience swaying their arms up in the air, without being asked, and whistling loudly.
The evening, billed as “Gypsy Night,” comes at a time when the genre is buzzing. The music, borrowing from Russian, Eastern European and Spanish folk themes, became popularized in the United States in the 1930s. More recent rock acts like the Downtown party band Gogol Bordello and indie rock outfit Beirut have made this cross-cultural music fashionable and cool.
Fujimoto, with a twinkle in his eye, calls gypsy music “magical.”
Kagero is the first to blend rock ’n’ roll and gypsy themes with traditional Japanese music, according to bandmember Jon Whitney. The band’s name is Japanese for “mirage” or “heat daze.” But they don’t want to be pigeonholed by their oddball take on the bouncy niche music.
“We’re about world music,” explains Fujimoto, who lives on Greene Avenue. “Like Led Zeppelin or George Harrison used to do with Indian or Arabic music.”
Alongside Fujimoto, drummer Georgi Markov brings serious Eastern European credentials; he’s the son of a drummer from Bulgaria’s popular rock band Shturcite, or “the crickets.”
“I joined the band because I was interested in my cultural heritage,” said Markov, who insists that he is not a gypsy.
In terms of cultural influences in his native country, Fujimoto, who grew up in the town of Yamaguchi, does not listen to “J-rock,” mainstream Japanese rock music, or the candied genre “J-pop.” He prefers traditional Japanese music and reading about the history of the gypsy sound in the obscure Japanese magazine Latino. He also brings an obsession with early Beatles cover songs to the mix.
At 14, Fujimoto began listening to a rock program on his navy blue Victor radio, a present from his grandfather. The only rock the radio picked up in his home aired from midnight to 3 am out of Nagoya. Maybe that’s why he likes D’Antigua, where the show begins only when the owner gives the word, usually after midnight.
As the set began, Fujimoto, arm crooked around an acoustic guitar, strummed heatedly while crooning playful, poppy power ballads set to gypsy melodies. He sang of actresses trying to get ahead in “Shanghai Calls Me,” while polka dot disco lights pin-wheeled around the room. Fujimoto’s undulating voice, borrowing generously from 1960s classic rock, also recalled Hungarian melodies and “minyo,” traditional Japanese folk songs.
Alongside Fujimoto, Whitney (who has an Irish father and Japanese mother) created sloping melodies on amplified violin, while Markov magnified the rock element on drums and guitarist Rob Simpson, a heavy metal-obsessed KISS fan, pushed the band’s sound to the brink of insanity.
Yuki Kuwana, a 34-year-old Japanese graphic designer, came to the show because she is a Kagero fan.
“I felt it was something new, a little bit different from any category,” said Kuwana. “I like the mixing between classical and rock.”
Fujimoto’s sweeping voice was not completely unlike the vocal styles of many popular Spanish artists either.
“They’re very synchronized, and actually, the music is good,” said Mexico native Carlos Bordello, who runs a flooring installation business in Queens.
Gisele Reyes, also born in Mexico, typically comes to D’Antigua with her Argentine boyfriend to see the local Spanish rock acts and tribute bands. But she appreciated Kagero’s sound.
While standing far from the stage, she said of Fujimoto, “His voice is very unique and clear.”
That evening, Kagero seemed ready to perform every song they had ever written. The band played a gritty, teetering chantey called “My Daddy is a Thief” and “Angel Baby,” a rainbow-like disco ballad set to a samba beat.
As the set rocketed forward, Fujimoto’s appearance became progressively messier, face warmed by beer, all the while maintaining control of his place as resident gypsy king for the evening.
Kagero will play April 19 at 8 pm at Vox Pop (1022 Cortelyou Rd. at Stratford Road in Flatbush) Admission is free. For more information, visit www.voxpopnet.net or call (718) 940-2084
