Japanese Music

[Cat]

In 1963, this song topped the charts around the world.  In the US, it was released under the name "Sukiyaki" and made the Billboard Top 100.  I only just discovered that it has nothing to do with sukiyaki, or with any type of food at all.  It is a great song though; and even better now knowing what it's about:

 

Edited February 12, 2020 by Cat

[cteno4]

ahh something from childhood! not heard that in decades! interesting to know about the title love how culture is mauled to suit the local language.

 

growing up in the SF bay area in the 60s we had all sorts of stuff on the radio and probably more pirate stations than real ones! i use to have my old portable am radio in bed and just tune into little stations with weird music and go to sleep with them and mom would come in later and turn off the radio. tolerant parents...

 

but then again the independent tv station had speed racer, ultraman, kimba the white lion, marine boy, astro boy, etc, and of course gozilla movies.

 

thanks,

 

jeff

[Cat]

1 hour ago, cteno4 said:

ahh something from childhood! not heard that in decades!

Ditto that.  Thanks to great college radio stations around here, Lost & Found program on WMBR, MIT's station, played it today.

[Tony Galiani]

If anyone is into Jazz and Fusion, check out Senri Yamaguchi.  She is young (born in 1997, started playing drums at age 5) but is incredibly skilled.  I have her Triangle DVD and the technical ability on display with that trio (with Phillipe Saisse on keyboards and Armand Sabal-Lecco on bass) is outstanding.  Though what I mostly enjoy about her is the shear joy she exhibits while playing.

 

Tony Galiani

[cteno4]

Wow she really rocks! You are spot on she really exudes joy while playing. Many drummers just end up in a wild frenzie, eyes closed and hair flying. Love how she will glance over at a drum and grin then follow with a fun combo to that set, like he was seeing it happen before doing it. Thought the cymbal companies must love her then noticed this video from zildjian

 

cherrs

 

jeff

 

 

[Sascha]

Found this very interesting band.

 

[cteno4]

Is there a loader here?

is there a crybaby here? 
 

ya big baby! 
 

interesting going to listen to some more, death metal sounds more interesting in Japanese!

 

jeff

[MichiK]

11 hours ago, Sascha said:

Found this very interesting band.

 

 

Me too - their 30th aniversary album arrived just the other week! 🤩

 

Two more particularily recomendable recomendations: Shinagawa Shinjuu

 

 

 

And the (more or less) traditional Neko ja Neko ja

 

 

 

[chadbag]

On 6/28/2020 at 7:37 PM, Sascha said:

Found this very interesting band.

 

 

The bald bass guitar player dude looks like Nosferatu from the Werner Herzog film

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nosferatu_the_Vampyre

 

https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo/klaus-kinski-nosferatu.html

 

 

Edited June 30, 2020 by chadbag

[cteno4]

Yep that thought crossed my mind! He is sort of Frankenstein in some of his YouTube interviews!

 

cheers

 

jeff

[MichiK]

Even better: He started as the Ratman from GeGeGe no Kitaro ! 🤣

[MichiK]

(Could this become any better?

 

 

Well, actually yes - locomotive breath, e.g., has more beat. But in all fairness: An ED75 simply isn't a steamer.)

[Sascha]

I know its not everybody's cup of tea, but DANG!!!New Crystal Lake!!

 

[cteno4]

My neck hurts watching that.

 

jeff

[NateJ93]

Does it count if the artist sings in English? If not then I'll delete this.

This is probably the last genre I expected to see in Japan.

 

[cteno4]

aaaaccccckkkkkkk line dancing! my eyes!

 

jeff

[NateJ93]

2 hours ago, cteno4 said:

aaaaccccckkkkkkk line dancing! my eyes!

 

jeff

Ouch.

I was raised on the likes of Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, Hank Williams Jr., and Reba McEntire, and hearing that sound in different countries does me good.

The dancing aside, it really makes my day seeing classic country being appreciated overseas, and props to Charlie for keeping the old school sound, it's way more country sounding than most of the newer artists these days.

[cteno4]

Yep the music was decent and like you say it’s great to see others enjoying it like this! it is really fun when you run across a pocket of music in another culture that’s totally from another. Always a good reminder that even wirh very different culture we all are not very much different in the end. 
 

I too was brought up by the oldies but more cash and hank sr. world.

 

too much line dancing in 70s and 80s for me with friends in college and cousins in texas really into it. That variety of group thing has never been my thing and I just did it to be social, but pushed the limits! Wasn’t the music, love that, it was the group mimic thing. But even dancing itself has never been really enjoyable for me personally but a social thing that just had to be done with a smile, but that’s just me.

cheers,

 

jeff

[NateJ93]

8 hours ago, cteno4 said:

Yep the music was decent and like you say it’s great to see others enjoying it like this! it is really fun when you run across a pocket of music in another culture that’s totally from another. Always a good reminder that even wirh very different culture we all are not very much different in the end. 
 

I too was brought up by the oldies but more cash and hank sr. world.

 

too much line dancing in 70s and 80s for me with friends in college and cousins in texas really into it. That variety of group thing has never been my thing and I just did it to be social, but pushed the limits! Wasn’t the music, love that, it was the group mimic thing. But even dancing itself has never been really enjoyable for me personally but a social thing that just had to be done with a smile, but that’s just me.

cheers,

 

jeff

Looking more into Charlie, he's actually quite an accomplished artist.

He owns a honky-tonk style bar in Kumamoto called "Good Time Charlie's" and he holds music festivals in town, he's played at the Grand Ol' Opry several times (One time even being introduced by Loretta Lynn), he's an honorary Kentucky Colonel, and he's even met (Then) president Bill Clinton. Wow!

There's a clip from a video taken at one of his festivals where he sings "I've got a Tiger by the Tail" by Buck Owens, and while at least half the audience probably doesn't understand a word of English, they're still bobbing and dancing and clapping along.

I'm curious about the country scene in Japan. Are there other artists besides Charlie and does country have much of a following in Japan?

[Tony Galiani]

I was impressed by the performance.  The band is taking the music seriously and they have clearly worked on it.  I was taken by the violin player - or I guess the fiddle player in this context! - who is spot on.

I have seen this dedication at all levels - here is a video of Japanese youth orchestra playing a Lester Young tune.  While not extremely hard it has challenging moments and they perform it better than some bands I have heard here in the US.

Ciao,

Tony

 

 

 

 

[NateJ93]

11 minutes ago, Tony Galiani said:

I was impressed by the performance.  The band is taking the music seriously and they have clearly worked on it.  I was taken by the violin player - or I guess the fiddle player in this context! - who is spot on.

I have seen this dedication at all levels - here is a video of Japanese youth orchestra playing a Lester Young tune.  While not extremely hard it has challenging moments and they perform it better than some bands I have heard here in the US.

Ciao,

Tony

 

 

 

 

Not quite my style, but I will say it was very well played, they did an excellent job.

[fpav_2125]

I found a cover of famous Blur song "Song 2" performed by japanese band "The Brilliant Green" and I liked.

 

 

[chadbag]

On 1/29/2021 at 11:22 AM, Tony Galiani said:

I was impressed by the performance.  The band is taking the music seriously and they have clearly worked on it.  I was taken by the violin player - or I guess the fiddle player in this context! - who is spot on.

I have seen this dedication at all levels - here is a video of Japanese youth orchestra playing a Lester Young tune.  While not extremely hard it has challenging moments and they perform it better than some bands I have heard here in the US.

Ciao,

Tony

 

 

 

 

 

 

That was well done.  And done in a very Japanese style (little bow at the end of the solo).  Bravo!

 

Too bad all the trumpet players had their pinkies stuck in the little loop (aka "finger hook") on the main input pipe (aka leadpipe) -- at least from what it looked like to me as it is not a hi-def video.  That hook is an anachronistic element on a trumpet that harks back to the old time band masters who played one handed while leading.  They needed the hook to support their instruments one handed.   Putting your pinky in it, which most amateurs and many many pros do while playing normal two handed style has the bad effect of limiting your finger agility (at least on the ring finger) for the fingers actually running the valves.

 

Though I don't play trumpet any more, I was glad my HS teachers taught me that one bit as it does affect your ability to play fast runs etc.

 

[fpav_2125]

This time I found two covers from famous songs "Surfin USA" (The Beach Boys) and "Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You" (The most famous version is with Frankie Valli in vocals)

 

"Surfin USA" with Mai Kuraki, Aiko Kitahara, U-ka Saegusa, Azumi Uehara, Rina Aiuchi and Miho Komatsu.

 

"Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You" covered in this case by ZARD (or Izumi Sakai)

 

At the end of the day "Pop" is the most predominant genre when it comes with japanese music to me (I bought Mai Kuraki's Live/Video Clips DVD "My Reflection" and two Giza albums with those kind of cover songs, there are a R&B Giza album too)

Edited June 11, 2021 by fpav_2125

[Sascha]

Just found this song .Its from 2015. I love how Japan has so many bands playing their own instruments.