Published
Mon, Aug 6, 2018, 15:14
- He played nine tracks and talked about writing, running and his record collection.
Renowned Japanese writer Haruki Murakami DJ'd his first radio show on Tokyo FM.
"Murakami Radio" broadcast for 55 minutes on Sunday, August 5th at 7 PM local time. The author recorded the mix in advance and discussed how his loves of music, running and writing overlap.
"Rather than learning storytelling technique from someone, I've taken a musical approach, while being very conscious about rhythms, harmony and improvisation," he said, according to AP. "It's like writing as I dance, even though I don't actually dance. For me, writing tends to be a very physical process, and that's my style. If you think my books are easy to read, perhaps we have something in common musically."
Murakami played nine songs spanning jazz and classic rock, which he says are the genres he most enjoys running to, off of multiple iPods. (Murakami's 10,000-strong vinyl collection has been the source of much intrigue.) He started things off with Donald Fagen's "Madison Times," before featuring bluesy cuts such as "D.B. Blues" by King Pleasure and a cover of Bob Dylan's "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" by Ben Sidran. Murakami also played Daryl Hall & John Oates' 1989 pop take on the soul classic "Love Train."
Listen to the broadcast and read Murakami's descriptions of his selections here.
The show is currently only available to stream in Japan, however the station seems to be working on making it playable internationally.
Photo credit: Tokyo FM