[Exclusive] Interview with K-ble Jungle

Get crazy with K-ble Jungle! They are a music duo that will change your perception of music limitations. They are known for a mixture of genres and going all out with their songs. When K-ble Jungle is on stage, there’s never one minute that the audience will feel boring because they are always upbeat and will continuously surprise the roaring crowd. The duo consists of DJ Shiru and Eriko! Keep reading to find out more about the unique duo. K-ble Jungle performed on day two of comic fiesta. The dup certainly brought their energy to the audience. Their performance brought new limits to what music is and we hope K-ble Jungle returns to Malaysia for more performances in the future!

Q : How did K-ble Jungle got started?

DJ Shiru : There is an association in Italy that promotes Japanese culture through festivals, inviting Japanese artists, workshops and demonstrations of traditional arts. I was one of the founders and later she (Eriko) came in. She’s also a singer and as the stage got bigger and bigger, it was kind of lonely if one person performs on a big stage. Then, I jumped on the stage with her because I have some experience in DJ-ing and it’s constantly growing because sometimes we have dancers and musicians. It’s mainly the two of us when we perform outside of Europe and Japan.

Q : K-ble Jungle will be performing for the first time in Malaysia at Comic Fiesta 2016, how do you feel about that?

DJ Shiru : The sound check yesterday was already good. Yesterday, when we entered the hall we thought the sound will be awful because it’s concrete and the sound will bounce back. But the sound check was very good from the stage. This morning, I saw one of the concerts and the sound was surprisingly good. The audience responded and it seems the audience is very warm. We’re very excited!

Q : What made you decide to go into Japanese music?

DJ Shiru : I’m Italian, my initial plan was to live one year in each  different country and some point I would come to Malaysia but Japan was so interesting and I would get involved in various projects that I stayed more focused on Japan. Actually, I worked withal sides of Japanese culture. We also do kimono dressing, photography and etc. These are the other stuff we do apart from music.

Q : As a pop/rock duo, how do you find the balance of not over powering each other on stage?

DJ Shiru : We don’t really know what we are. We get critiqued because we don’t specialize in a specific genre. It’s because our taste is so different from what she likes and from what I like. We are trying to make everybody happy, we sometime try rock and EDM. Eriko’s background is opera and we throw everything together. She’s of course the main point of the show, and when there is some space, I will fill the empty spaces.

Q : How did the name K-ble Jungle came about?

DJ Shiru : It comes from a jungle of cables. At first, it’s a funny name that we never really thought it would become a “real” name. It’s actually the title for the first demo CD. K-ble Jungle was the name of the CD because every time when we rehearse our shows, even if it’s only two people, there are so many cables and it gets jumbled. But then it also means connecting to different genres even from the outside it looks like a jungle, it does works.

Q : You came from an opera background, how did you find yourself doing what you do now?

Eriko : I started studying opera because I like classical music. It’s not my only focus and I also like idol music and Japanese hip-hop. I likes to dance a lot and even when I was studying opera, I didn’t think I would be an opera singer because I was attracted to different types of music. I’m also fond of going to karaoke, singing and dancing even though it’s a different type of singing compared to opera, because in opera we don’t use microphones. I like mixing things up.

Q : You have a song called “Akai Uta”, which is a mixture of electronic music and opera. Was it difficult to merge the genres together?

DJ Shiru : It was actually the only solution because sometimes I write music like “Akai Uta” but actually I don’t write music often, I use the computer and generate music/sounds and she would say it’s impossible to sing words with these kind of music. The only possible way is to sing opera because it’s much more flexible.

Q : K-ble Jungle has performed in different countries, how has that shaped your music?

DJ Shiru : Maybe not that much because it’s hard to deal with our needs and what we want to do. Usually when we see the audience jumping and having fun and that’s good enough.

Eriko : It’s not so much different of what country we’ve performed but the concept of the event could be very different. We have played in clubs so it’s more disco music. We also have played in this type of festivals a number of times, so we sing anime songs too. We have played in chic like wine tasting, rich old people kind of places and I sing more in opera style.

Q : So for this event Comic Fieta 2016? What’s the concept?

DJ Shiru : Fun!

Eriko : Go crazy!

DJ Shiru : Sometimes when we know the audience, we dare to do more on stage. Some of the songs I wrote have a story in it and we wear a mask on stage. When we know the festival and that the audience will accept this kind of concept but when we don’t know the audience, we do not risk and not damage the festival’s name and organizer.

Q : What kind of challenges do you faced as a duo?

Eriko : It’s very difficult and we fight a lot. Each of us is the boss in our own country because DJ Shiru would know more of what the Italians would like to see on stage. But when we have concerts in Japan, I would take the lead because I would know what the Japanese audience wants.

Q : How would you introduce K-ble Jungle to a new audience?

DJ Shiru : Like I said, it’s like a jungle of styles and messages.

Q : What would to say to new audience that K-ble Jungle are worth their time?

DJ Shiru : Come and we’ll make you lose some weight. We’ll make you jump, scream and run around. We have a lot of energy on stage and that is one of our main points and also her voice.

Q : Your fashion style is unique, how do you find your style on stage?

Eriko : One of the points when we perform in these sorts of festivals, everybody is dressed colourfully and crazy so we need to do more! That’s kind of a challenge because we have to stand out from the crowd so we pick the most colourful style! For example, at an elegant wine dinner, we are dressed more sober. But when the stage is big, we have to be colourful so the people can see you.

DJ Shiru : Usually we walk around the Harajuku area and see what catches our eyes.

Q : Was there any memorable incidents that happened overseas?

Eriko : There’s a lot of accidents/happenings that happened but since we are optimistic, we tend to remember the positive ones.

DJ Shiru : For example, there was an overbooking on the flight and the airline tells us that we have to go business class. Once we were returning from Portugal and there was an overbooking, they asked if we would accept 400 euros, a five star hotel, a taxi ride and we were like “YES!”.

Eriko : Usually the incidents happened on the way to the festival or on the way back.

Q : What keeps you motivated to continue making music especially in a mixture of genres?

Eriko : When there are negative moments especially when we fight, because my idea is complete opposite of his so we get down and there’s a low energy. But then when we perform on stage and the audience responds well, we are receiving this positive energy and we get more motivated.

Q : What are your aspirations for next year?

DJ Shiru : Be rich and famous! 

Eriko : We would like to come back to Malaysia next year!

You can check out more about K-ble Jungle from their official website here http://www.kblejungle.com/and their YouTube page https://www.youtube.com/user/scuolamulino.