Aaron Choulai Trio – Featuring Kojoe & Hikaru Tanaka

In a special one-night-only event ahead of the Australian Art Orchestraperformance at this year’s WOMADelaide, Japanese hip-hop luminaries Kojoe and Hikaru Tanaka join AAO Artistic Director Aaron Choulai for an intimate sideshow performance at The Jazzlab.

An ongoing collaboration forged over Choulai’s 15 years in Tokyo as a pianist and producer for Japanese labels Jazzy Sport, P-Vine, and Oikworks, this performance explores new pathways of experimentation between hip-hop and improvisation.

Bringing together two of Tokyo’s most prominent and influential MCs with a trio led by Choulai on piano and featuring two of Melbourne’s most celebrated improvisers, the program moves fluidly between bilingual rapping, structured composition, and free improvisation — all woven together through Choulai’s distinctive compositional voice.

Aaron Choulai – Bio

Aaron Choulai is an internationally acclaimed Papua New Guinean–Australian composer, conductor, and pianist. Renowned for work that is culturally coded in the languages and histories of the Asia-Pacific, his music has been commissioned and presented by major festivals and organisations across Australia and Asia, including Asia TOPA, Queensland Music Festival, and Tokyo Jazz Festival.

Born in PNG, Choulai has lived extensively in Port Moresby, Tokyo, and Melbourne — cities that have shaped a practice defined by fluid movement across musical worlds and deep cultural reference. His work engages with shared histories and evolving identities across the Asia-Pacific, speaking with clarity, depth, and imagination.

As Artistic Director of the Australian Art Orchestra, Choulai provides steady and visionary leadership, guiding the organisation with a commitment to cultural integrity, rigorous collaboration, and community-centred practice. Under his direction, the AAO continues to strengthen its reputation as a leading force in innovative, cross-cultural music-making.

Choulai’s artistic influence is reflected in collaborations with Archie Roach, Ruby Hunter, Ben Monder, Jim Black, Otomo Yoshihide, Daichi Yamamoto, and Shun Ishiwaka, alongside major commissions from Asia TOPA, Queensland Music Festival, and Multicultural Arts Victoria. A recipient of the Freedman Fellowship in Jazz and the MEXT Scholarship, he has worked with national orchestras across Australia as both performer and arranger, and brings extensive pedagogical experience through teaching roles at The Banff Centre for Creativity and the University of Melbourne. He holds a Master of Music from the Tokyo University of the Arts.

Hikaru Tanaka – Bio

Hikaru Tanaka is a rapper from Tateyama City, Chiba Prefecture, strongly influenced by 2000s underground and abstract hip-hop. His career began in 2016 with the release of his debut solo project Echo Chamber, featuring producers LIBRO, BUGSEED, Meiso, and others.

Lyrically, Tanaka is known for his highly technical chop-flow style, emphasising poetic expression drawn from a working-class perspective. His live performances incorporate samplers and effects to deconstruct and reassemble his material in real time, interweaving composed material with freestyle and improvisation.

His boundary-expanding approach to hip-hop is also evident in his work with Namboku Records as MC and composer for the Hold, Re-sample Quartet — a project dedicated to integrating live sampling and free improvisation alongside saxophonist Yoshimoto Akihiro and trombonist Haruta Nanami.

Kojoe – Bio

Kojoe (ko-jo), born Sakata Koichiro in Niigata, Japan, is one of the most influential voices in contemporary Japanese hip-hop. His distinctive bilingual rhyming style, performed in both Japanese and English, has cut across cultural boundaries and expanded the scope of hip-hop audiences in Japan and beyond.

After moving to New York in the late 1990s, Kojoe became the first Asian artist signed to the iconic Rawkus Records, immersing himself in American hip-hop culture for over 13 years. During this time, he developed his unique bilingual delivery and sharp lyrical perspective.

Since returning to Japan in 2009, Kojoe has firmly established himself as a leading figure in the scene, collaborating with major Asian artists including 5lack, RudeBoi Face, Big Joe, and Seeda, as well as international artists such as Raekwon, Talib Kweli, and Styles P.