Joined: 13 Apr 2007 Posts: 12121 Location: It was fun while it lasted. Country:
Posted: Mon Jan 31, 2011 7:12 am Post subject:
^ That is great!! Thanks for posting!!
I had never heard of Shoukichi Kina, so I did a Wiki and found this:
Kina Shoukichi (��[���g, Kina Shōkichi), born June 10, 1948 in Koza (now part of the city of Okinawa), Okinawa, is a Okinawan rock musician who, along with his band Champloose, played a large role in the Japanese home-grown "folk rock" scene in the 70s and 80s. His first big hit was "Haisai Ojisan" (Hey, old man) in 1972, which he wrote when he was in high school. His song Subete no Hito no Kokoro ni Hana o, as recorded by himself and others, has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide. He is now perhaps equally well-known for his ongoing activism in the name of peace.
Next time I go to Book-Off, I will have to see if they have any of his stuff.
Joined: 15 Jun 2004 Posts: 46182 Location: Los Skandolous, California Country:
Posted: Mon Jan 31, 2011 7:58 am Post subject:
shin2 wrote:
While I was perusing Youtube for Ry Cooder videos, I came across this: Shoukichi Kina and his band Champloose performing Haisai Ojisan, backed by Cooder and the Chieftans in a concert in Japan back in 1994. Listening to this will get you to stand up and jump about indiscriminately.
Cool name, "Champloose." Nice play on words considering the Okinawan heritage.
Jero fulfills a promise to his grandmother
Singing traditional ballads, the mixed-race Pittsburgh native has become a cross-cultural favorite in Japan.
By John M. Glionna, Los Angeles Times
February 27, 2011
�\ Looking back, says the pop singer called Jero, the songs were a soundtrack to his childhood, the strange and sorrowful melodies enjoyed by his Japanese-born grandmother �\ traditional folk ballads he came to know as enka music.
In the early 1990s, Jerome White Jr. was a skinny mixed-race kid �\ three-quarters African American, one-quarter Japanese �\ who found respite from the tough streets of Pittsburgh's North Side in the mysterious music that emanated from his grandmother's living room. "It was in the background ever since I can remember," he says.
As rap music blared from car radios outside, White reveled in nostalgic foreign-language songs from post-World War II Japan, painful tales of lost love and quaint, longed-for hometowns. Together, White and his grandmother Takiko watched videotapes of a Japanese variety show that featured the popular musical acts of the day, including enka performers.
That's when the young boy made his grandmother a promise: One day, he was going to go to Japan and become a cross-cultural sensation, singing enka songs to wildly appreciative audiences.
Fast forward 20 years, and White's dream has come to life on cue: Now 29, known by the stage name Jero, he's a Japanese pop music marvel. With his smooth voice and street stylings, he's helped revitalize a once-popular enka genre, which he likens to the American blues, whose popularity had fallen on hard times.
White isn't just any crossover artist. His 2008 debut single, "Ocean Snow," soared to No. 4 on the Japanese pop charts in under a week �\ the best-ever performance for a debut enka song.
But the kid from Pittsburgh does it his way. While fluent in Japanese, White forsakes the traditional kimonos worn by many enka singers, instead performing in hip-hop-styled street clothes, the crooked caps and thick-necklace bling of his childhood. And yet his lonesome country ballads are all old-school �\ the contrast evoking descriptions of White as a bizarre blend of Lil Wayne and Wayne Newton.
His sold-out concerts are packed with teenagers who consider White a new cult figure. Among the young hipsters are the white-haired retirees, old women on hand for a sentimental evening of nostalgia for a Japan that no longer exists.
But here's where the dream breaks down, the dose of reality the 9-year-old boy never considered: Those adorable old women in the crowd don't include his grandmother, who died of cancer in 2005 at age 76 �\just months before White's career caught fire here. The irony plays out bittersweet, like the enka songs that often bring his audiences to tears. "I really feel it was her doing," he says. "She was the source of my success."
Sitting in his record company office, dressed in baggy jeans and a Pittsburgh Pirates baseball cap, White describes how he came to the faraway music: Singing it as a boy made his grandmother happy, and that, he says, kept him singing. She bought a karaoke machine so the boy could practice and would sit by and watch him perform, correcting nuances in his fledgling Japanese. She'd write out simplified versions of Japanese kanji and characters so he could better understand the melodies. White studied Japanese as a teen and visited here twice while in high school and college. In 2003, he moved to Japan full time.
Back then, he called his grandmother once a week. The old woman with only a fifth-grade education was impressed with her grandson's newfound command of her native tongue. Mostly, she gave him advice about his new life in Japan, where she had returned infrequently since marrying a U.S. serviceman decades earlier, relocating to his hometown of Pittsburgh.
White didn't experience problems many might have imagined. Although African American in one of the world's mono-cultural societies, his fluency in Japanese helped him break the ice with strangers. He also felt at home in a country where American-style rap music has become popular.
The last time White saw his grandmother was two weeks before she died. She was home in Pittsburgh, still telling jokes, deflecting the attention, keeping things light. "I knew it might be the last time I'd see her," White recalls. "I just said goodbye, like I would any other time."
Two months later, White had a recording contract. The years have brought new albums, countless new fans. And in 2008, he made the first of two appearances on the Japanese variety show "Red and White Song Battle," which inspired his boyhood promise to his grandmother.
With his mother in the audience, White walked onstage wearing a T-shirt bearing his grandmother's image. He said a prayer, asking her to watch over him. "I wanted her to be there that night," he said. "And she was. My whole family was there."
Still, White resists focusing on the audience during his sad songs, knowing he'll see women his grandmother's age, in tears, just like she would be. It's just too painful, he says.
Not long ago, he released a collection of enka songs from his childhood, including the first ballad he sang to his grandmother. During a recent interview, he sang a few lines of the song, about the loss of a loved one. When he finished, there were tears in his eyes.
Joined: 13 Apr 2007 Posts: 12121 Location: It was fun while it lasted. Country:
Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2011 4:32 am Post subject:
Konishi Yasuharu launches solo project Pizzicato One
March 31, 2011
Musician Konishi Yasuharu, once a member of the now defunct Shibuya-kei group Pizzicato Five, has announced a new solo project called Pizzicato One. The news was revealed on Thursday, March 31, exactly 10 years after Pizzicato Five disbanded.
Konishi will release his first album as Pizzicato One on May 25, titled �g11 no Totemo Kanashii Uta.�h According to the project�fs website, the album is also being called �gOne and Ten Very Sad Songs.�h It consists of covers of English songs, each featuring vocals by various internationally-known artists from around the world.
The planned tracklist is as follows:
��One (Harry Nilsson) feat. Rosey
��Imagine (John Lennon) feat. Marlena Shaw
��A little bit of soap (Bart Berns) feat. Nicole Willis
��I wanna be loved by you (Herbert Stothart – Harry Ruby) feat. Wouter Hamel
��Bang bang (Sonny Bono) feat. Maia Hirasawa
��A day in the life of a fool (Luiz Bonfa) feat. Gwyneth Herbert / If you went away (Marcos Valle) feat. Marcos Valle
��Maybe tomorrow (Quincy Jones – Marilyn Bergman) feat. Christopher Smith
��Suicide is painless (Mike Altman – Johnny Mandel) feat. Roger Nichols & the Small Circle of Friends
��If we lived on the top of a mountain (Les Reed – Barry Mason) feat. Eric Matthews
��A long hard climb (Ron Davies) feat. Roy Phillips (The Peddlers)
Joined: 28 Mar 2011 Posts: 141 Location: United States Country:
Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2011 12:26 pm Post subject:
Can someone please recommend a good drama with Matsumoto Jun as the lead actor? I have already watched Kimi wa Petto and Natsu no Koi wa Nijiiro ni Kagayaku.
Thank you! _________________
Now Watching:Otenki Onee-san, Last Cinderella, Tokyo Zenryoku Shoujo
For you shamisen lovers out there, here's a clip of one of my favorite enka singers, Nagayama Yoko, performing Jonkara Onna Bushi, one of her signature songs:
Joined: 14 Feb 2009 Posts: 6884 Location: Syracuse, NY Country:
Posted: Wed May 11, 2011 8:51 am Post subject:
The Plastics, new wavish band from the 70's-80's, had never heard of them until a few days ago but really loving their sound.
The bands Talking Heads, The B-52's and Devo were all big fans of Plastics and were instrumental in getting their albums released in the United States. Their mainstream exposure began when Toshio Nakanishi designed a tour program book for Talking Heads and slipped David Byrne a tape of Plastics demos. Byrne promptly sent it to the B-52's' manager who offered to represent them internationally.
Joined: 13 Apr 2007 Posts: 12121 Location: It was fun while it lasted. Country:
Posted: Wed May 11, 2011 9:26 am Post subject:
^ Something tells me we'll never see SMAP doing covers of their stuff.
And Dreams Come True is releasing a charity CD:
Dreams Come True to release best album for charity
May 10, 2011
DREAMS COME TRUE plans to release a best album in order to raise funds for earthquake relief efforts. This is the latest charity contribution by the duo, who previously distributed their song �gNando Demo�h for free and participated in the charity compilation album �gAi no Uta.�h
The best album, titled �gTHE SOUL FOR THE PEOPLE ~Higashi Nihon Daishinsai Shien Best Album~,�h will be released on June 29 in both a physical CD form and a digital package for iTunes and other sites. 12 songs are included in the album:
1.a little prayer
2.Nando Demo
3.TRUE, BABY TRUE.
4.Sono Saki e
5.MERRY-LIFE-GOES-ROUND
6.Nee
7.MIDDLE OF NOWHERE
8.Sora wo Yomu
9.Asa ga Mata Kuru
10.Aisuru Kokoro
11.IT�fS ALL ABOUT LOVE
12.a little waltz
All of the money that DREAMS COME TRUE receives from the album, including their royalties, will be donated to the Japanese Red Cross. The CD version is being listed at a price of 2,300 yen, while the price of the digital version has not yet been revealed.
In addition, the duo announced that they will appear on the NHK show �gSONGS�h on May 25 to perform songs from the album, marking their first appearance on the program in roughly 4 years.
When DREAMS COME TRUE made the full chaku-uta version of their song �gNando Demo�h available for free for a month in the aftermath of the earthquake, it was downloaded 143,944 times, equivalent to 57,577,600 yen.
Joined: 25 Mar 2004 Posts: 916 Location: SF Bay Area Country:
Posted: Wed May 18, 2011 7:45 am Post subject:
shin2 wrote:
For you shamisen lovers out there, here's a clip of one of my favorite enka singers, Nagayama Yoko, performing Jonkara Onna Bushi, one of her signature songs:
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