7 Day Visa (7DV) is the brainchild of artist/producer Jamahl
Richardson (Natural Fact). It is the result of a lifelong passion for music,
travel and excitement. For Jamahl, the three always seemed to go
hand in hand. This began back in 2000 on an extended visit to the
city of Guadalajara, Mexico. He was unexpectedly called on stage
without warning. Although completely unprepared, his pride as an
artist helped him rise to the occasion. He rocked the crowd using
broken Spanish and English freestyles over the pulsating rhythms of
the resident Samba band. The stage was nothing new, but the
challenge of being in a completely foreign place was. Returning from
the trip, he found that his musical creativity went through an
explosive transformation. As is the case with most people who travel,
the sights, sounds and experiences had changed him forever.
Tokyo, the first of the 7DV series, transforms the sights, sounds,
people and experiences of Jamahl's first trip to Japan’s capital into
an exciting, emotion filled, electro-acoustic adrenaline ride.
Traveling to Tokyo for the first time as a performer with
The Shanghai Restoration Project, Jamahl found himself awestruck by
the high-tech, highly evolved hustle and bustle of the city, the all
night, underground mega-clubs, contrasted with the tranquility of the
sacred Shinto and Buddhist traditions. This project tastefully fuses
pulsating rhythms and the simple, yet refreshing melodies of the
subways and vending machines, into trance inducing soundscapes that
allow the mind to wonder, such as the inebriated party goers who exit clubs
early mornings in Shibuya and Roppongi. The result is
Tokyo, 7 Day Visa, an audio time capsule forever connecting
the people, places and memories of 7 days in a megatropolis called
Tokyo.
