Where conventional music strains to adorn, or dare to stretch, the guiding walls of orthodoxy, Shugorei simply smash them down.
Emerging from a world where tradition and form are almost worshipped – classical training – Shugorei choose instead to throw time signatures and traditional music formulation out the window for their latest project, 'The Sounds Of Chow Gar'; a cinematic live-action film of the kung fu style Chow Gar, accompanied by live music set to align seamlessly with the movements of the martial forms.Shugorei comprises classically trained percussionist Nozomi Omote and chamber composer Thomas Green, her dynamic musical performance perfectly complementing his compositional and production background.
"Nozomi came to Australia over 20 years ago now, but she has those strong Japanese roots," Green shares. "We met on and off over the years. I had taken a step away from music for ten years while my kids were young, and one of the ways back into it was when I saw Nozomi perform.
"She was playing a five-octave marimba, about two-and-a-half-metres long, and the music called for some playing at one end of the marimba and some down the other end.
"Nozomi is really not very tall, so I'm watching this performance where she physically had to jump from one end of the marimba to the other. She's such a dynamic performer, and that was the first thing that struck me.
"I thought we have to have a group, I could tell that we were well suited. She agreed to it straight away. I'm more of a composer, and Nozomi is our frontman.
"We were brainstorming a name, and we were really interested in the bilingual aspect, because some of our songs have words in Japanese and some in English.
"So she gave me interesting Japanese words without the meanings, and Shugorei was one of them. I got curious because I liked the sound of the word. It means guardian spirit, but it's a very particular meaning.
"Japanese culture has this Shinto origin which is animistic, meaning there are spirits everywhere in everything. Like in 'Spirited Away' for example, there's a river spirit.
"Even though these days it's quite an industrialised society, they have really strong spirituality as well. So Shugorei means guardian spirit, and it is a benevolent kind of spirit. It can be an animal or an ancestor.
"So we have been able to think of our music as spiritual; we like creating magical sounds. Electronics and percussion are really useful, because we can create otherworldly textures, departing from traditional harmony and melody, and into sounds that are evocative."
The name proves apt for a duo who serve as each other's guardian spirits. "We try to look after each other. With a duo, you can have quite a personal bond behind the music," Thomas says.
The choice to select a very specific form of kung fu as the theme of Shugorei's latest body of work is due to its proximity to Green's heart. Not only has it served him for over a decade by aiding his physical and mental health, but he has also found a community of exceptionally good people.
"I do [kung fu] for my own mental health. I can't really just go and exercise, I have to be doing something that I forget is exercise, something that pretends not to be purposeful exercise, so kung fu's something I've kept long-term.
"Part of that is because the family who run the club are really beautiful, unusually good people and they're fascinating. The story of the show is the story of this family.
"Kung fu is quite rhythmical, so I approached my main instructor, Alanna Sue Tin, about this idea of making music to match the rhythms of the kung fu. She was a bit hesitant, because she's not a performer and she doesn't big-note herself, so it took a bit to get the idea across, but eventually she thought it would be a good idea.
"What we've done is we've filmed all five of the traditional forms and set them to music very precisely, so all the musical rhythms match the latent rhythms of the kung fu."
What began as an experimental music project, soon turned into a meaningful story of immigration and cross-cultural symbiosis. "They're a very unassuming family. They've been running the school since the 1970s, and Guy Sue-Tin is the chief instructor of the school.
"His parents just recently passed away, but his father's side has a long family history of immigration from China to Queensland, still here and now, and all the way back 100 years or more in Queensland history.
"So their style of kung fu has developed and evolved along with the people here in the community; it has some tenuous links to Hong Kong, where this style originated, and a creative approach that this family has taken.
"So it's almost an Australian-Chinese style of kung fu. There is a documentary aspect to the show, the story of a cross-cultural situation where you have something not uniquely Australian, but no longer strictly Chinese either."
The real challenge for the show came musically, as Shugorei began composing intricate and elaborate arrangements synchronised with a physical art form that is neither musical nor contains a consistent rhythm.
"Initially, it was quite experimental. Another large factor were the videographers Tnee Dyer and Vanessa van Dalsen. They were very creatively motivated, doing their own camera kung fu, getting in front of the practitioners, locking in very closely with what they were doing. So it was the case that we didn't really know what we'd have until we had it.
"I took all the videography and cinematography, and I was able to look really closely at the forms' relation to the individuals who performed those forms. Each one has a distinct personality, and so I'm able to get really musical about it, and make decisions about which one goes where.
"It was good being a member of the club, because even though they're performing advanced forms, I have a feel for what they're doing.
"This was a huge experiment for me," continues Green, "because it's taking rhythms from something which is not purposely musical, and creating unique propositions to go along with that.
"I couldn't technically tell you how I did it, and that's good because it gives me ammunition for creating some good literature about it, but it was extremely difficult. Maybe if I'd done work in cinema I might have known some of these techniques, but my background is chamber music.
"The film projects I've been involved with, I've created the music that gets it where it needs to be, whereas this is the reverse – starting with the non-musical scenes and pulling the music out.
"It's really rewarding, and I'm really happy seeing the musical results. We are releasing the music as an album, because the music has turned out well, even though it's an unorthodox process of being put together."
The tale of community documented in the film mirrors Green's own experience. He was fortunate enough to fall from his musical hiatus into a supportive community that has consistently progressed alongside each other, collaborating on each other's work and enjoying music together.
One group, the Black Square Quartet, will feature in the live show beside Shugorei. "This is a nice story," Thomas says. "I stepped into a group of musicians who are really good friends.
"We've got a collective you might say, three or four different interrelated musical groups, and we all just hang out. I've frequently written music for Black Square, and they've played with Shugorei previously, in a supportive role, whereas in this show, they’re definitely front and centre. On the album, it's very much the quartet all the way through."
Singapore was blessed with the first sneak peak of the show at the Yong Siew Toh Performers Present Symposium in October of last year, before the one night only show will take to the stage at the Ian Hanger Recital Hall in Brisbane next month.
The Singapore experience was everything Shugorei could have hoped for. "I work at the QLD Conservatorium, where there's a great academic music making scene, and symposiums are run. They're like academic festivals where you go and share ideas and present your current work.
"Shugorei was asked to present, and the entire show wasn't finished, but we were able to present a sneak peek. It's a dream job really, hosted by another city in another university, hearing brilliant things from other academics and artists from around the world. It's always just amazing."
'The Sounds Of Chow Gar' is a one-time only live show at Ian Hanger Recital Hall QLD Conservatorium (Brisbane) on 16 February. The soundtrack album is released 20 February (on limited edition CD, and available at the show). Shugorei join JERM at The Bearded Lady (Brisbane) on 27 January.
