Ena Mori’s immersive show merges music, dance and art

MANILA, Philippines —  The upcoming show of Japanese-Filipino pop artist Ena Mori “will be an excuse to have a great time.”

This was how she described the second installment of her Ena Matsuri gig happening on Sept. 21 from 6 p.m. onwards at the Justin Bella Alonte Photography Studio in Makati City.

It will “really be about enjoying music without thinking of other things,” she told The STAR in a group interview.

“I think whenever I listen to music and how euphoric I feel after, it’s something that I can’t really replace with anything. And I feel like, you know, I happen to be an artist, but there are so many people that feel the same way when they listen to music. And I just want that experience to be shared. And I hope this will be one of those places that they can, you know, just take a day off and listen to music and just have fun.”

The Ena Matsuri show merges music, dance, art, and interactive elements to create an immersive environment for the eventgoers to revel in. It features an all-electro/rave/hyper-pop/dance/rhythmic lineup, such as, UDD, crwn, Kindred, Hideki Ito, and t33g33.

Ena Mori was hands-on in putting up the act together. She co-produced, curated and conceptualized Ena Matsuri with the help of Offshore Music and GNN Entertainment Productions.

Launched last year, the Ena Matsuri is “about celebrating not just the local music in general, but coming together as all artists doing their own set and just having a good time.”

Ena Mori shared, “It’s always nice to have the place to perform. And yeah, (an) excuse for me to do a longer set, you know what I mean? So, experimenting with different set lists that I don’t usually perform in other festivals, I wanted to explore to have a place where I could showcase that.”

The previous year’s edition was staged in an outdoor venue. This year, it will be held in a photography studio, an indoor setting. “So, you could kind of imagine that it’s kind of like a dungeon. There’s some lights going on as well. I guess it’s really a studio. So, it’s really encapsulated. And it’s going to be a lot cozier.”

“There are phenomenal acts that will be performing. And this year, I really wanted to focus on what I’ve been loving and listening to so far, which is more on electronic artists. I’ve been listening to a lot of rave and deep house recently. So, I think it’s reflecting how I chose the lineup as well.”

Ena Mori will also be playing longer set this time for her “passion project.” “And I hope that whoever comes to that show will feel the same way (like) how I feel whenever I go to the club and listen to a lot of electronic art music. Because for me, I don’t know, electronic music has been a very huge chunk of my artistry and how I get inspired by music.”

“I always like going yearning for electronic music whenever I feel like I have to release my stress and all of that. So, it’s just really when you feel that bass and just get lost in the music. So, I hope that that will be a similar effect or similar experience for people that will be joining and watching.”

Ena Mori just dropped her new song called Trust Me, her second single following the release of her album two years ago.

“It really resonated with me. It’s different because I love to, I guess, decorate my songs with flowery words and sometimes vague words work, right? But for this one, I really wanted to be very honest about how I wanted to tell the story for the song,” said Ena Mori of Trust Me, a pensive pop track about “yearning for somebody’s trust when you don’t feel like you have that.”

Her full-length album DON’T BLAME THE WILD ONE! is composed of tracks, such as, Oh, Bleeding Hearts?, Vivid, and SOS.

She named Kate Bush, Björk, and Imogen Heap as her musical influences.

Next month, Ena Mori will be attending international festivals, including SXSW Sydney and a show in Fukuoka, Japan.