Exclusive interview with NOAH music artist from Japan

Noah is member of 101A Japanese rock band. 101A It features a distorted and intense sound that contains various elements such as grunge, industrial, shoegaze, and progressive, and delicate female vocals. Weave songs of various styles, such as beautiful and calm ones that make you think of images, speedy and powerful ones, dark and mysterious ones. Each song evokes a new landscape and impresses with the band’s unique style and magical personality. Active mainly in Tokyo. Irregular tours to Europe and Asian countries continue. Appeared in EXIT FESTIVAL (Serbia), MIDI FESTIVAL (China), etc.

FM42: Noah, can you tell us how you started collaboration with JSFF between Japan and Serbia?
This is a long story. We were playing in many countries as the rock band 101A. UK. Belgium, France, South Korea, Australia, etc. When we finished playing in Shenzhen some non-Chinese person spoke to us, and one of them was Jaksha Nikodijevic, the organizer of this festival. They loved our music very much and coordinated our tour in Serbia. Then we could learn about Serbia’s complex and wonderful deep culture. We also got to know very well that Serbs have a deep interest in art from different countries. After the tour Jaksa told me their plan about JSFF.

I am a musician and not a person in the film industry, so I was not confident that I could cooperate, but I wanted to somehow realize the strong passion of the Serbian people, so I collected films in Japan and held a screening of JSFF in Japan. I decided to cooperate as much as possible to make it. In this way a deep bond was formed between us and Serbia.

FM42: What are your impressions of Belgrade and the festival and how it looks like JSFF in Japan?
I was surprised to see so many academically-minded students at the screening. And the festival has an open atmosphere and people ask the directors a lot of questions. We also have such opportunities in Japanese screening but people have a tendency to feel ashamed to ask some questions, so they are not active like in Serbia. JSFF in Japan needs to be held in a more detailed and planned manner. So, the screening goes much more smart but it doesn’t have an atmosphere as free as Serbia. I want to make the mood like a Serbian screening also in Japan.

FM42: We had a great opportunity to see your music performance twice during the festival. What made you decide to pursue a music career, and be a member in a band 101A?

My family were classical musicians and music teachers. So, I also learned it from an early age but I loved rock music very much. It caused a feud between me and my family but I wanted to find my own music. And the band that could do that was 101A. And recently I started my new music project called “Ignis” by myself. The two concerts in JSFF at this time were music from Ignis. New project gives me a new range of activities and the new joy of playing.

FM42: What has been the best performance of your career so far?

Difficult question. To be honest, I have regrets after every performance. I never thought it was the best performance ever. But about the playing situation, I am really proud that I was able to perform at the EXIT Festival. It is one of my best memories in this band.

This is a bit off topic, but now in Japan, the audience must wear a mask at any venue, and it is almost forbidden to speak in the venue. So, it is very difficult to know how they feel about our play. These performances in Serbia brought back to me the wonderful feeling of being one with the audience, which I hadn’t felt for such a long time. I was so touched.

FM42: Where can I check out your music?

You can check out our music at the http://101a.org and our songs can be listened to on: Spotify, Apple Music, etc.

FM42: What’s your next plan to do….

Before I start planning music, I need to make the JSFF screening in Japan in January a success. It is not so easy because the fee is very expensive in Japan ,people are always busy working and there is almost no volunteer culture. In addition, there are still restrictions due to Covid 19 in Japan. Still, it is my pleasure to show excellent Serbian films to Japanese people, so I will do my best. Once that’s done, I’d like to start planning 101A’s next album and tour (of course including Balkan).