Final Descent Presents: Akira.Drums & Halfdan Stefansson (JP/DK) //CPHJAZZ

Artist in Residence 2025: Audio-visual minimalism

This year, the Final Descent Artist in Residence program is proud to present three extraordinary musicians from Japan. Intertwining their cultural upbringing with free improvisation, extended techniques, and cross-aesthetic experimentation, they each offer a unique take on recontextualized Japanese music—ranging from hypnotic minimalism and electro-acoustic folk to avant-garde and spiritual jazz.

Experience Okinawan drummer Akira Nakamura and his hypnotic, minimalist solo setup under the moniker Akira.Drums in an improvised collaboration with local guitar experimentalist Halfdan Stefansson

Akira.Drums (akira dot drums)

Akira Nakamura’s solo project akira.drums, from Okinawa, blends minimalist visuals with extended, hypnotic rhythmic progressions. With roots in jazz and electronica, and inspired by Steve Reich, Japanese folk music, and krautrock, he creates rhythmically complex soundscapes that, when combined with sleek graphic visuals and layers of electronic noise, form a captivating and mesmerizing experience.

He has lived and studied in both Berlin and New York, influences that are clearly reflected in Nakamura’s music, where references to both Berghain and Blue Note can be heard.

Halfdan Stefansson is a Copenhagen-based guitarist, improviser, and composer. He is active in groups such as Spider People, Kakao Intens, and Farvel, and is the main driving force behind the collective and label Movement Shaped Like a Heart. Stefansson unites the raw energy of hardcore punk with the unpredictability of free improvisation and is one of the most promising instrumentalists on Copenhagen’s current experimental music scene.

Akira.Drums is part of Final Descent’s Artist in Residency 2025, where three Japanese musicians will visit Copenhagen Jazz Festival with solo performances and exciting new collaborations.

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