Waqwaq Kingdom op Boring Festival 2024

WaqWaq Kingdom is a Japanese tribal bass duo, consisting of Kiki Hitomi and Shigeru Ishihara. Both are originally from Japan, lived in the U.K. for over a decade and are now based in Leipzig and Berlin.

Their genre- and time bending sound is like a psychedelic Nabe hot pot: melting Japanese traditional style Minyo with Jamaican dancehall, footwork, dub, techno, tribal polyrhythms and Super Nintendo soundtracks.

The lyrics and visuals are drawing a deep influence from ancient Shinto mythology and the Japanese “Matsuri” festivals that honor the local gods, “Kami-sama”.

WaqWaq Kingdom’s hypnotic and shamanic live performances are an intense time warp experience that re-connect their animistic roots with the future of urban neon colors.

Shigeru Ishihara is mostly known as breakcore-gameboy legend DJ Scotch Egg, but also for playing bass in Seefeel (Warp Records), the Devilman project and Small But Hard Records.

Kiki Hitomi is the singer/songwriter from bass explorers King Midas Sound (Ninja Tune), Black Chow, the Japanese Dubstep noise duo Dokkebi Q and the NoinoNoinoNoino project. Her highly acclaimed solo debut album “Karma No Kusari” appeared on Jahtari in 2016.