Sunday, July 11, 2004

>> A Closer Look at BEGIN

BEGIN (ビギン) is comprised of three members who are all from Ishigaki Island (石垣島) and friends since grammar school. The trio have been nicknamed as the “Takeuma no Tomo (竹馬の友)” group. The members are: Eishou (also written as Eisho) Higa (比嘉荣昇) on vocals, sanshin, guitar (b. 7/15/1968), Masaru Shimabukuro (島袋 優) on guitar, chorus, ichigo-ichie (b. 9/23/1968), and Hitoshi Uechi (上地 等) on keyboards, chorus (b. 6/23/1968).

THEIR first noted appearance as a group took place in 1988 when they performed for a friend’s wedding party and was discovered by an owner of a live house (nightclub) who invited the group to regularly perform on stage. In 1989, the group appeared on the TBS (Tokyo Broadcasting System which is one of Japan’s major TV stations) show “Heisei Meibutsu TV Ikasu Bando Tengoku” (『平成名物TVいかすバンド天国』).

THE group’s real (as in their recording) debut took place in 1990 with the release of their Teichiku Entertainment, Inc. single “Koishikute” (『恋しくて』 CARC-36 and rereleased in 2003 as a maxi-single TECN-10901), which was used as an image song for Nissan Motors. “Koishikute” is still one of their most well-known songs and one that I love singing whenever I go karaoke. ;) It should be noted that they debuted as a band whose style was more bluesy rather than the shimauta (which came almost 10 years later) that they’re currently known for and they can be categorized as J-pop music.

BEGIN’s “comeback” arrived in the year 2000 — 10 years after their debut — with cameos on the hit NHK morning drama serial “Churasan” (『ちゅらさん』 due to the popularity of the show, a third series has been added that will air this year). It could be said that they were in the right place at the right time because the year 2000 also marked their entrance in the shimauta genre of music with their album release “Begin no Shimauta: Omototakeo” (『ビギンの島唄 オモトタケオ』 TECN-20647) and more importantly, the release of the song “Nada Sou Sou” (『涙そうそう』 TECN-12613 which was covered by Hawaiian music recording artist Keali´i Reichel on his album “Ke´alaokamaile”).

“Nada Sou Sou” would also launch the career of fellow Ishigaki islander Rimi Natsukawa (夏川りみ, 30) who released the song (VICL-35238) in March of 2001. The song became a hit throughout Japan and she would later perform on NHK’s annual Kouhaku Utagassen (『紅白歌合戦』Red & White Songfest) which is known for only inviting the year’s most popular artists. The lyricist for the song, folk singer Ryoko Moriyama (森山良子, the music was composed by the group), would also release the song as a b-side to her single “Satoukibi Batake” (『さとうきび畑』MUCD-5003) in December of 2001. (Her son Naotaro has become a famous J-pop singer with his single “Sakura”, so that song seems to bring fortune for all of the parties involved with it.)

2002 saw their shimauta-inspired song “Shimanchu nu Takara” (『島人ぬ宝』TECN-12877) featured as the image song for NHK Okinawa’s “Okinawa Hondo Fukki 30-shuunen (沖縄本土復帰三十周年)” and later in the same year the group would make their first appearance in NHK’s Kouhaku.

IN 2003, the group took a large step as musicians with the release of the Ichigo-Ichie (一五一会), a hybrid between a sanshin and a guitar, made by established Japanese guitar maker Yairi Guitars. The philosophy behind the instrument is to make it very simple so that anyone can learn to play it without any prior knowledge of music. The body of the four-stringed instrument has a very unusual shape and I’m sure that Masaru (and Eisho) will be performing with it at the festival.

SINCE their debut with Teichiku in 1990, the group has released 8 singles, 11 maxi-singles, 11 original albums, 2 shimauta albums, and 1 best of album. In 1992, the group left Teichiku for BMG Funhouse and recorded 3 singles and 3 albums before returning to the Teichiku label in 1997. Currently, they belong to Imperial Records (part of the Teichiku Entertainment, Inc. group) and will be releasing a CD+DVD this month called “Reef Line” (TECI-1068, July 14th), and a maxi-single called “Chikai” (『誓い』TECI-65) on August 11th.

ALSO performing with BEGIN at this year’s Okinawa Festival in Honolulu, will be the Shisars. I’ll have more about the female duo in a future entry.

Sunday, November 30, 2003

>> New albums from Yukito Ara and Acoustic Parsha

November saw the release of two new albums related to my favorite O-pop group, Parsha cluB. The first is Acoustic Parsha’s “Natsupana” (11/28) which is their second album and contains a total of nine tracks including the ever popular, Asadoya Yunta.


Also a second album is Yukito Ara’s solo work “Gekkou” (11/19) which features Parsha cluB’s regular taiko/percussionist Sunday (he was also on the first solo album) and Maki Shida (also on taiko), daughter of Okinawan dance master Fusako Shida. “Gekkou” contains 9 tracks of Yaeyama minyou.

Sunday, June 29, 2003

>> Pics from Banda Tontonmi’s recent studio session

Tiemi from Brazil’s Banda Tontonmi sent me some pics of their recent studio session for their upcoming CD album.


Nifee for the pics Tiemi and I can’t wait to listen to your group’s new album!

Saturday, June 14, 2003

>> Begin’s new single “Sono Toki Umareta Mono”

Begin, the group we all love from Yaeyama, will be releasing a new single called “Sono Toki Umareta Mono” on Wednesday, June 18.


The song is being used as the image song for Okinawa Denryoku’s 30th anniversary. The single includes a second song called “SMILE” as well as an instrumental version of each song. The song is along the line of “Shimanuchu nu Takara”, a hit song for the group from 2002 (so it’s a ballad with very inspiring lyrics, and good too!). The group’s official label site has a Flash movie available with a preview of the song as well as its lyrics. The group’s official site is through their management company Amuse. Email to the group can be sent through their label’s site Teichiku.

Monday, April 21, 2003

>> Parsha cluB to perform during Golden Week

My favorite O-Pop band Parsha cluB will be holding a live concert during the Golden Week holiday at CLUB D-SET on Thursday, May 1st. Doors will open at 8:00 pm with the concert to start at 9:00 pm. If you find yourself in Okinawa during this time, they’re a band you must see.

For ticket information contact:

CLUB D-SET
Kumoji, Naha City, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan
Phone: 098-861-8110 (Okinawa number)