Posts Tagged ‘music’

Playable Electric Guitar T-Shirt

Musical t-shirts from StrapyaNext are introduced to Japanese TV viewers, and then shown off to foreigners in Japan:

There’s are electric guitar, keyboard, and drum t-shirts, all of which can make sounds. The electronic bits are removable, so the other part of the shirt can be washed.

Most of the foreigners who see the shirts are very impressed. At the end of the clip, the three t-shirt dudes have a jam session with a professional pianist.

After some searching, I found that the shirts are available on Amazon: the Electric Guitar Shirt, Keyboard Shirt, and Drum Shirt are sold for between 20 and 30 dollars, considerably less than the 3,580 yen price shown in the TV report.

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• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
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Coolest Marimba Performance Ever

An awesome marimba performance of Aram Khachaturian’s “Sabre Dance” & Dmitry Kabalevsky’s “Comedians’ Gallop” by T.J.P.P.A.L ( Tsutomu Jyutori Percussive Performers Art Lob ):

And, as a bonus, a clip of some little Japanese kids playing the same Kabalevsky piece:

And Mario songs on a marimba:

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• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• Dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)

Roots Music in Japan

Maybe it’s a sign that my youth is slipping away, but I noticed lately that the hip-hop and rock tracks on my iPod have much lower “play count” numbers than the more acoustic-leaning, folk and roots tunes. Performance-wise it’s the same – interest in playing quiet coffee-houses is winning out over rock gigs. Fair enough, time to embrace the change, I thought, and went looking for Japanese music in the same vein.

Roots music back home usually consists of bands influenced by bluegrass or Celtic sounds, and weirdly,  that can even be found here. Witness the hottest salary-man band this side of Kentucky:

These guys are good, but I was looking for something that was more an expression of Japanese roots, rather than Western ones. Some friends suggested Okinawan-influenced rock, which they said is often referred to as Japanese roots music. I’d love to hear suggestions. One that I’ve found that I particularly like is Miwa Sasagawa. She’s not from Okinawa, but she has a rootsy sound that’s just what I am looking for. Actually, she sounds a little like Susan Aglukark, an Inuit singer from Canada.

Luckily for me and the band, we found a singer with similar tastes. And with her in the lead, we altered an Odani Misako song in the direction of a rootsy/folk sound. Odani is not a roots artist, but she is a good songwriter so her songs can be interpreted easily into other genres. Check it out:

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Contributor Bio: JJ, shockingly, teaches English, but would prefer to do other things (shockingly). So he writes songs or comedy or the occasional theological treatise. Sometimes he tries to combine all of them. This is most easily observed at www.youtube.com/fatblueman.
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• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
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Impersonating foreign musicians

Nobu and Fukkey impersonate Simon & Garfunkel ["Sounds of Silence"], The Stylistics ["Can't Give You Anything (But My Love)"], and Gipsy Kings ["Volare"]:

And, from another Japanese TV show, a performance of “Tonight” from West Side Story:

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• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)

Yukio Hatoyama sings “Take HEART”

Ever since I’d heard about Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama’s 1988 single “Take HEART – Fly, Dove of Peace,” I’ve been looking for a good copy of it. Here’s a YouTube video containing about a minute of the song:

“I never imagined that there would be a day when this tune would come into the spotlight,” said Teruaki Asanuma, a 65-year-old dentist in the Hokkaido city of Muroran who wrote the song at Hatoyama’s request.

Hatoyama had wanted Asanuma to write a tune featuring a Japanese-dance rhythm, but Asanuma said he recommended a more pop-oriented record reflective of the “urban atmosphere” Hatoyama had created.

Only a short recording session was required, Asanuma recalled, adding that he thought Hatoyama was “quite accustomed to singing.”

The title of the song plays on the similarity in sound between “hato” (dove), the first part of Hatoyama’s surname, and “heart,” according to Asanuma.

“Now I hope he will help to guide everyone to happiness as suggested in the lyrics of the song,” he said.

And here’s a video clip of it being played at a party held by Hatoyama supporters:

Does anybody know where one can find a longer and better quality copy of the song?

Because of its limited release, it’s become a rare collector’s item. One vinyl record recently sold for 35,000 yen in an online auction.

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• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
• Kirainet.com – A geek in Japan (Subscribe)

Japanese rock concert held on the USS Missouri

Japanese rock group VAMPS recently held a special concert on the deck of the USS Missouri, a battleship best known for hosting Japan’s war surrender ceremony on September 2, 1945.

Flanked by the ship’s 16-inch guns and with the stars and stripes flying behind them, the band performed 20 songs, including the upcoming release “Sweet Dreams.” About 600 fans paid $150 each to see the unique show. Vamps was formed in 2008 around L’Arc en Ciel frontman Hyde and Oblivion Dust guitarist K.A.Z. The lineup also includes bassist Ju-ken, who has performed with Gackt and X Japan’s Yoshiki. They have released one album and three singles. The tour took in 60 shows in Japan and the U.S. and finishing off in Hawaii, which is in more than one way the meeting point between the two countries, was heavily symbolic. Hyde said, “I think it’s great that an instrument of war can be used to send out a message of peace like this.”

According to the “Mezamashi TV” clip, about 600 Japanese and American fans attended the concert.

[hat tip to The Other East]

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Related video clip: a newsreel from 1945 showing the surrender ceremony:

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