The night before they left for Europe, Japanese group Cicala Mvta (pronounced Chicala Muta) played for about 50 people in Tokyo -- about par for the course for them. When they arrived in London the next day, theirs was the hottest ticket in town. Sort of.

Cicala Mvta in England

Cicala Mvta was supporting Blur on the Meltdown Festival's final night at the Royal Festival Hall, now established as one of London's most esoteric and exciting festivals.

Each year, a celebrated musician (Elvis Costello, Laurie Anderson, Nick Cave, to name a few) puts together a dream lineup, mixing genres and mediums, the obscure with the exalted, giving downright weird and unsung acts a chance to share a stage with more well-known yet creative peers.

This year the artistic director was Scott Walker, a '60s pop icon who later, as a cult hero, influenced everything from psychedelia to ambient to Britpop. True to form, Walker put together a diverse program: Asian Dub Foundation, American avant-garde composer Jim O'Rourke, jazz saxophonist Evan Parker, Jarvis Cocker and Radiohead all rubbed shoulders on his fantasy-festival list.

The boys of Blur were so honored to have been chosen by their hero, they decided Meltdown would be their only live appearance anywhere this year -- thus explaining the unprecedented demand for tickets.

As the person who, indirectly, had introduced Cicala Mvta to Walker, I found myself in London with not only a surplus of tickets, but watching the final of Euro 2000 with Blur. Cicala Mvta had had to receive the Blur seal of approval as well, but with the game still going on and destined for extra time, I don't think any of them actually saw their honored Japanese guests.

Indeed, at least half of the audience was probably still in pubs watching France eventually beat Italy as Cicala Mvta made its overseas debut. Exactly what a Blur audience would make of a Japanese instrumental band, mixing elements of chindon (Japanese street music) with Balkan, Turkish, Nepalese and other brass and wind-instrument music from around the world, was unclear.

Cicala Mvta was formed by Wataru Okuma, who had made the unlikely switch from playing guitar in a punk/noise band to clarinet in a chindon group.

Colorful chindon groups used to be a common sight in Japan, marching in the streets noisily banging chindon drums and playing the hits of the day on saxophones or clarinets. One member, usually a chindon "undergraduate," would carry a large banner announcing the opening of a new store or pachinko parlor. The music is a strange brew of Japanese traditions, stemming mainly from the original pre-classical version of kabuki and the Western military band of the Meiji Era.

Okuma tramped through the streets of Tokyo for seven years, playing clarinet until the late '80s, when together with the group Compostella he started to revive chindon music by mixing it with other elements.

Wataru Okuma poses with Damon Albarn of Blur.

Cicala Mvta has taken the music a step further. Okuma's perky clarinet is ably abetted by an unusual lineup of musicians, each bringing with them a sense of individuality to form an unlikely but cohesive unit.

The group's unique cello player, Hiromichi Sakamoto, carts around his own box of tricks, containing a variety of electronics and gadgets that produce screeching, sawing, searing and squiggling sounds. Favorites are his electric massager and a metal-grinder that can create a small fireworks display of flying sparks.

Guitarist Yoshiki Sakurai is a picture of serenity that belies the dexterity of his playing, whether it be racing Frank Zappa-esque rock solos or African hi-life style.

Tuba player Takero Sekijima serves as the bass player, steadily puffing out a meaty tone and occasionally letting fly with a rip-roaring solo.

Filling out the rhythm section is drummer Masahiro Uemura, who constantly strives for a "cheap sound." The antithesis of the stereotypical drummer, his small frame and hands blaze around the drum kit, not wasting a joule of energy and rarely breaking a sweat.

At the Royal Festival Hall, the Blur fans gradually warmed to Cicala Mvta. Garnering a rousing response was "Suki ni Natte, Gomenasai." Based loosely on a Turkish tune, it launches into a frantic rock workout, with the oddest middle break complete with cello electronic effects and Mongolian throat-singing by Sakamoto and Okuma. The final number was "Shi Chome," a chindon standard tune that starts off very fast, and gets implausibly faster over each repeated refrain. As the musicians veer toward an out-of-control peak, Sakamoto usually screeches things to a halt with his cello-saw routine. With this option vetoed (hall officials deemed it too dangerous), he instead chased a balloon around the stage, determined to spike it with his cello. His perseverance triumphed, to the audience's delight, as colored pieces of paper flitted in the air.

Blur's set mostly steered clear of their big hits, showcasing new songs instead. All had well-thought-out arrangements and great hook lines, the most surrealistic moment being the arrival of new London Mayor Ken Livingstone as Blur's rapper.

At the aftershow party, the pioneers of Britpop and the chindon revivalists finally got to meet. Walker, a reclusive character, had left, but his manager passed on his enthusiastic best wishes. Blur's manager too had seen Cicala Mvta.

"Next time we're in Japan you're playing with us, right?" he exclaimed as we went out the door. Now that might be an even stranger experience.

While not exactly "underground" like Cicala Mvta, guitarist and singer Dont was always fiercely independent, with a devoted cult following. You may have read of his tragic death earlier in the year in this column. It's rather sad that often the best career move such an artist can make is to die.

Magazines have now put him on the front cover and devoted space to him they wouldn't have even considered before. Many of Dont's CDs with the groups he had fronted (Rosa Luxemburg, Bo Gumbos and Uminosachi) had been deleted by his various record companies. Unable to get a record deal, he released his last three solo albums on his own label, which he sold through his mother's rice shop. At least his back catalog has now been rereleased.

Many of his real friends from the music world will be getting together to pay tribute to him Aug. 19 at the Summer of Dont 2000 event at Hibiya Park's Amphitheater. In a similar fashion to Dont, these include some of Japan's most creative and individual artists: UA, Shokichi Kina, Takashi Nakagawa, the Boom's Kazufumi Miyazawa and Soul Flower Union's Hideko Itami will all be participating, as well as an amalgam of his previous groups under the guise of Bo Gumbo Rosa, members of Uminosachi, his partner Sachiho's Indian-inspired trio Amana and many others.