Sunday, October 31, 2004
>> Top of the Pop
This is turning out to be a great year for Okinawan J-pop artists. Veterans of the scene, DA PUMP, continue their impressive career with the September release of their 21st single, “Mune Kogasu”. Namie Amuro can be seen on CMs for the cosmetic brand Lucido as well as several music shows on the tube for which she’s promoting her double A-sided single “GIRL TALK/the SPEED STAR” released mid-October. We’ve also seen SPEED reunited for a special cause only to continue onto their solo projects at the beginning of the year.As far as SPEED goes, we’ve seen the career of one of its members (Takako Uehara) take-off due to her screen time success on NHK’s popular morning drama serial “Teru Teru Kazoku”. Eriko Imai got married and had a baby (as well as YUKINARI of DA PUMP). hiro ventured into the Vocals genre with a side project called Coco d’Or and released her first single—a terrific ballad—in over a year, “Hikari no Naka de”. Hitoe continues to be the quiet member of the group.
Ryoko Kuninaka filmed another installment in the Churasan series and released a catchy single, “Meguri Aeta ne”, which is also the ending theme of the drama. Speaking of Churasan, Gorie (the other half of the comedic duo Garage Sale) is at the top of the pop charts with his single “Mickey” (yes, the Tony Basil cheerleader song), and even filmed the PV in Hawaii.
Perhaps the biggest newsmakers of the year will go to groups that cut their teeth in the indies scene and made it big in the Japan mainland’s mainstream circuit. HY seemed to have captured the title but were greatly eclipsed by Orange Range who will be performing in this year’s Kouhaku (considered one of the biggest achievements in an artist’s career). A group that we’ll have to look out for is CRIMSON who with their Okinawa shimauta-inspired song “Shima” (this week’s Sunday Sample), turned up in a cameo on the Churasan 3 series. We also have the R&B duo, D-51, whose song “TOP OF THE SUMMER” was used as the HEY3 ending theme. With the exception of D-51, the other three groups feature heavy Okinawan influences and run the genre gamut from punk to rock ballads.
Tokyo Eth Musica
Special mention should also be made to the experimental pop group Tokyo Eth Musica. Featuring vocalist YongAe, a 4th generation Korean-Japanese, vocalist Miho Hirae from Ishigaki Jima and sound producer Daichi Hayakawa from Tokyo, EthMusica delivers a blend of pop that is as diverse as its cast of members. My one complaint is that their debut album “World Scratch” should have featured more of YongAe’s Korean-language singing which are available as B-sides to their single releases.
Let’s give these artists a big chibariyo to help them keep the momentum going well into 2005 and beyond!
>> Sampler Sunday #5
Happy Halloween!
Today’s sample: shima.mp3 SS #5 (9.21MB). [UPDATE: No longer available.]
Read my previous post on ‘Sampler Sunday’ for more info.
Friday, October 29, 2004
>> 55th Annual Red and White Song Festival
Congratulations to ORANGE RANGE who will be making their Kouhaku (NHK’s annual song festival [battle]) debut at the end of the year. Rimi Natsukawa will also appear this year and will more than likely sing the song “Kana yo Kana yo”, written by J-pop artist Kazufumi Miyazawa, lead vocalist of THE BOOM.
>> AUTUMN FESTIVAL OF RYUKYUAN COURT MUSIC AND DANCE
AUTUMN FESTIVAL OF RYUKYUAN COURT MUSIC AND DANCE
performed by the Ukwanshin Kabudan-Ryukyu Performing Arts Group
Friday November 12, 2004
7:30 PM, Orvis Auditorium (University of Hawaii Music Dept.)
tickets: $15 general / $10 students & senior citizens
A performance of Ryukyuan (Okinawan) court music and dance focusing on
the Sho Dynasty when the Ryukyu Kingdom prospered through trade with
China and abroad. Presented in a dance narrative, the repertoire
celebrates the four seasons and a story of duty and honor.
The first part of the performance will present rarely performed pieces
from the repertoire of classical women’s dances. The gestures in these
dances hint at the cultural influences from across Asia from Japan to
Java. The second half of the concert will feature the male classical
dances. While women’s dances portray deep inner emotions, the male
dances often focus on duty and piety. The notably stronger motions find
many of its roots in the Okinawan martial art now known as karate.
The dancers are from the Tamagusuku Ryu Tamagusuku Setsuko Ryukyu Dance
Academy, Hawaii Chapter. They are as follows:
Eric Wada (instructor)
Shizue Afuso
Takako Miyazaki
The musical ensemble will feature the following:
Norman Kaneshiro…uta/sanshin
Keith Nakaganeku…uta/sanshin
Jolene Takamori…koto
Allison Yanagi…kucho
Terry Higa…taiko
The concert is sponsored by the Department of Southeast Asian Studies
and the Music Department of the University of Hawaii, Manoa. The
proceeds from the concert will be used to benefit programs at UH
focusing on Okinawan performing arts.
For more information, please call 95-MUSIC (956-8742) or e-mail:
uhmmusic[at]hawaii[dot]edu; OR email Norman:
nkaneshi[at]hawaii[dot]edu.
(Nifee for the email notice Norman!)
Sunday, October 24, 2004
>> UEHARA Takako’s Crowd
UEHARA Takako (21, ex-SPEED) is keeping up her pace as one of J-pop’s top singers with a live event at Yokohama’s Landmark Tower drawing a crowd of 4,000. Takako is promoting her latest single, “Galaxy Legend” (released 2004.10.20 Avex), a solid J-pop tune written by violinist HAKASE Taro and is the outro theme song for the anime “Uchu Kokyoshi (Space Symphony)”. Interviewed at the event, Takako stated that she (and the other members of SPEED) had visited IMAI Eriko and the latest addition to her family at the hospital. When asked about her own plans for a family, Takako responded by saying that she’s far from ready for it and she’s content with her role as an aunty. [via Yahoo! JAPAN]
>> Sampler Sunday #4
Today’s sample: Ieji.mp3 SS #4 (9.1 MB). [UPDATE: No longer available.]
Read my previous post on ‘Sampler Sunday’ for more info.
Monday, October 18, 2004
>> IMAI Eriko’s Baby Boy
Congratulations to IMAI Eriko (ex-SPEED) and SHOGO (175R) for the birth of their baby boy! Now we can watch a new generation of stars in the making with AMURO Namie’s son Haruto and YUKINARI’s (DA PUMP) daughter Aine.
Related Entries:
Wedding Bells for Another Okinawan J-pop Star
More Details on YUKINARI’s Marriage
Sunday, October 17, 2004
>> Sampler Sunday #3
Today’s sample: SING_A_SONG.m4a SS #3 (3.89 MB). [UPDATE: No longer available.]
Read my previous post on ‘Sampler Sunday’ for more info.
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
>> Rimi’s Nada Sou Sou 123 weeks on the Oricon Single Chart
Congratulations to NATSUKAWA Rimi for having her song, “Nada Sou Sou” (released as a single in 2001), on the Oricon (Japan’s version of America’s Billboard magazine) Single Chart for 123 weeks! She now holds the number four spot — number two for solo female singers — with NAKAJIMA Miyuki’s “Chijou no Hoshi” at the top spot with 181 weeks.
Sunday, October 10, 2004
>> This week’s newsmakers
Say hello to Aine (愛音), YUKINARI’s (DA PUMP) baby girl!
AMURO Namie draws 50,000 of her fans to Shibuya for a ‘talk’ event at that area’s HMV store. The J-pop (rather ‘hip-hop’) diva is promoting her new single “GIRL TALK/the SPEED STAR”.
[via Yahoo! News - Geinoukai]
>> Sampler Sunday #2
Today’s sample: Mickey_(Hawaii_Version).mp3 SS #2 (3.85 MB). [UPDATE: No longer available.]
Read my previous post on ‘Sampler Sunday’ for more info. (Breaking from tradition, this week’s SS is an mp3.)
>> BEGIN’s Video Message from Honolulu
A video message of BEGIN’s recent concert in Honolulu has been posted on their official website (www.begin1990.com). Here’s how to get there since the site is only in Japanese (btw, if there’s enough people who’ll ask me for it, I’ll translate [or if anyone wants to volunteer I’ll happily upload it to this site] the message and provide a text-based transcript of the group’s dialogue):
- Visit www.begin1990.com. (You’ll need Macromedia Flash Player 6 or higher to view the site.)
- Hover your mouse or trackpad over the final link on the menu and it’ll read ‘SPECIAL’. Click on that link.
- You should now be in a window that’s giving you a choice between two connection speeds: Broad and Narrow band. (You’ll need Windows Media Player 9 or higher to view the video.)
- Click on your connection speed and the video will begin buffering momentarily. Enjoy!
(Nifee to Isaac Hokama for the link.)
Sunday, October 03, 2004
>> No Music, No Love Life
The remake will be called “SING A SONG ∼NO MUSIC, NO LOVE LIFE∼” and Cocco will be joined by fellow SPEEDSTAR recording artist KISHIDA Shigeru of the group Qururi. A sample of the remake can be listened to on the special 25th anniversary website.
>> Samurai Champloo
As you can see from the image above, it’s a jidaigeki (or chambara) anime that at first, seems to have nothing in common with Okinawa other than the inclusion of the Okinawan word champloo (or champuru) and more in common with themes found in anime like “Rurouni Kenshin” or “Samurai 7”. But after reading the character bio for Mugen (he’s the tan samurai in the above image) on the “Samurai Champloo” character page, you find that he was born “on an island in the Ryukyus”. How’s that for cool?
The style (hip hop music, graffiti titles, excellent character design) of “Samurai Champloo” is so slick that it’ll surely make its was into the States for distribution. According to the AnimeNfo.Com website, the series is currently available as a fan sub in the U.S.
>> Sampler Sunday #1
Today we’ll be releasing our first sample for our newest feature: Sampler Sunday. We’ve had a lot of requests for this and although we finally decided to go on with it, it’ll be done with our own quirky choices.
- The samples will be ripped in AAC at 128 kbps. Apple’s QuickTime Player (which is a free download) can be used to listen to the samples.
- We’ll try to have a sample ready for you every Sunday but if we miss one (or two), please don’t blame us.
- The samples will only be available for a limited time (i.e. until the next one is uploaded) and we will not — N O T — reissue past samples.
So without further ado, here’s this week’s Sunday sample. Shimanchu_nu_Takara-Ichigo.m4a SS #1 (5.49 MB). [UPDATE: No longer available.]
(Note: If you use iTunes, highlight the track and hit Cmd+I [it’s probably Ctrl+I for Windows users] and you’ll see all of the pertinent information regarding the sample. If we can find people to seed samples for us, we’ll consider using BT in the future.)
>> Help Wanted
I’m planning on having my entire CD collection ripped and I’m looking for any Hawaii friends (bloggers and others) to help me. Of course I can’t pay for it so the exchange will be that you can keep the songs that you rip and return the discs to me with a CD-R/DVD-R of the mp3s. You’ll probably need a tray-loading CD drive since I own 3-inch singles and I haven’t tried to load the little buggers in my slot-loading one. I’m thinking of importing them at 160 kbps or higher.
Since I have a lot of Japanese-language albums — some of which may not be in the CDDB — being able to read Japanese is preferred. I guess you could also do it the hard way by searching for the artist on the CD Japan website and jotting down the site’s Japanese romanization for the album’s songs. (I’m okay with everything being in Japanese too.)
My collection consists of J-pop, jazz, classical, soundtracks, rock/pop from America, Okinawan music, etc. I’ve been buying CDs for the past 13 years so you can imagine how large my collection is of those shiny silver discs. After everything is ripped, I’m planning on donating, selling (to obtain credit and buy more music) and keeping my faves.
If you’re interested, send me an email at riccin[at]internet-okinawa[dot]com.
