Asian folk music has become a rich source for progressive club music. Hang out in one of Tokyo's happening nightspots and one is apt to hear break beats ping-ponging past Indian sitars or fluttering around Balinese gamelan. But when it comes to Okinawan min'yo or traditional music, there hasn't been much room on the dance floor.

It would seem an obvious combination. Okinawan music has already taken its place in the world music pantheon and has found its way into the work of folksy rockers Soul Flower Union and the more ambient realm of Yellow Magic Orchestra.

The pluck of the jamisen and the boom of the taiko haven't been lost on foreign club artists either. Talvin Singh's collaboration with the Nenes on his last album "OK" hinted at the potency of such crosscultural (or in Singh's case, multicultural) pollination. Among Japanese dance artists, however, the use of Okinawan music has been limited to a few remixes and the occasional inclusion of an Okinawan-flavored cut in a live set.

DJ Tamaki Takuji, a k a Geetek

"I think it's very difficult to incorporate Okinawan music into dance music," says Okinawa-born and Tokyo-based DJ Tamaki Takuji, a k a Geetek, "because it always becomes traditional music, not dance music. There have been some Okinawan remixes, but they tended to sound very traditional."

With his new Okinawa house music project, Geetek is trying to give Okinawa music a cool, dance-floor veneer. His career has already taken him from house to drum and bass to a recent foray into techno. It was only a matter of time before his musical curiosity returned home to Okinawa. At first, the house-Okinawa combination might seem rather odd. When ethnic or world music is combined with Western genres, there is usually an ulterior motive, a desire to reach a higher spiritual plane or an urge for crosscultural communication.

But house music is essentially party music. It is light and fluffy without the political underpinnings of hip hop or the intellectual pretension that can sometimes dog techno. In that aspect it mixed perfectly with the laid-back beats of the islands.

"Okinawan music is essentially happy. I took that happy aspect and tried to weld it to dance music so that maybe even people unfamiliar with Okinawan music could find something pleasurable in it," says Geetek.

The result, a 12-inch, vinyl-only release now available on Tokyo's Crue-l label (a fulllength CD will be available later this autumn) is surprisingly inventive. Though at times a bit irritating in its exuberance, Geetek's Okinawa house is like a dose of musical sunshine.

Though Geetek admits that Okinawa music is "embedded" in his subconscious, using it to make club music still wasn't easy.

"In dance music the rhythm is key, but in Okinawan traditional music, the beats don't blend easily," he explains. "If you took out the percussion, the taiko, it might work, but I found a lot of difficulties mixing Okinawan music."

Ironically, the amateur status of the musicians that play on the EP helped. Instead of professionals, Geetek used Okinawan friends living in Tokyo, some of whom only had a passing expertise in the instruments of their homeland.

"The person who played the jamisen wasn't really so good at it, but there was a grooviness to it being played badly," says Geetek, giving one example. "Maybe if a pro did it, it would sound more like traditional music, instead of having a groove."

This is not to say that Geetek wanted to alienate the music from its roots. Far from it.

"I'm Okinawan," he says, "and proud of it. I wanted to put that pride into some kind of form."

Geetek at "2 Step Night," Sept. 7 at Velfarre, (03) 3402-8000; at "Earth People," Sept. 8 at Yellow, (03) 3479-0690; at "2000 Black, " Sept. 9 at the Liquid Room, (03) 3200-6831.

A staple at Milk for years, Tokyo's coolest indie music extravaganza has moved to a bigger venue (and for working stiffs, an earlier hour). Free Form Freakout, curated by Hot Cha label founder and man-about-town Hiroshi Kobayashi, shifts to Club Quattro for its next edition.

Unlike other nights which tend to follow a party line as far as genre is concerned, Kobayashi likes to mix things up. Thus dubby Dry and Heavy and popsters Labcry share the stage with punkish favorites Surfers of Romantica. The highlight is bound to be Sugar Plant, a group whose career ups and downs are legendary (they seem to constantly be on the verge of stateside success with some mishap of one kind or another always intervening). They are regrouping yet again and their ambient, mellow pop meets trance is not to be missed.

Free Form Freakout with Labcry, Dry and Heavy, Surfers of Romantica and Sugar Plant, Sept. 10 at Club Quattro, 6:30 p.m. Tickets 2,800 yen. For more information, contact Club Quattro at (03) 3477-8750.

The time when club nights weren't rigidly segregated by musical taste is a thing of the past. This might be why last year's Digital Convenience party -- which crammed everything from house to hip-hop to techno into one evening -- was such a success. Digital Convenience #2 resurrects this format with Indian-inspired percussionist Asa-Chang, radical hip-hop DJ Quietstorm and abstract drum and bass/techno from DJ Wada (one half of Co-fusion). With over 10 DJs and live acts scheduled this should make for a long and varied night of clubbing.