Skip to main content

Al compas del mundo, programa #92 - Japan


The Japanese historically have been a most creative people, excelling in aesthetic conventions like architecture, painting, culinary arts, theatre, music, and more. A craftsman’s care and an artist’s flair have come to define everyday household objects such as articles of clothing and kitchen ware, designed with a sensibility that imbues them with import and elevated status. After WWII in the United States however, an item inscribed “made in Japan” usually indicated a tchotchke of mediocre quality. A perfect example is the large number of Northwest Coast Native American-style bone totem poles made for the tourist shops in the Northwest. There is a distinctive difference in these “artifacts” from the real, home-made variety that illustrates someone from another culture tackling aesthetics they don’t fully comprehend. And that leads us to some of this week’s musical choices. Imitating Western pop, rock and jazz, Japanese artists have recorded many forgettable efforts – not unlike those outsiders that inspired them. But the musician that truly captures the zeitgeist of raucous rock and roll, funk, or jazz and brings something of their own musical traditions to the mix leaves us with a vigorous and captivating blend. You’re going to hear such efforts in this program by the likes of the Minyo Crusaders, The Spiders, Akira Ishikawa & His Count Buffalos, and The Spacemen. There is an undeniable Japanese theme to each of these otherwise Western musical experiences. And then there are those “out there” types who borrow from any and all sources of inspiration to create unique statements that now proudly carry the “made in Japan” emblem. Try on Senba Kiyohiko and Haniwa All Stars (with guest star Demon Kogure) and see if it fits your predetermined image of Japanese…pop weirdness? Or Chakra, or Kiwi & the Papaya Mangoes, both sounding unlike any other group I’ve ever heard. And to keep you firmly rooted, I’ve thrown in legitimate, unadulterated folk music as well, the sort most appreciated by the Japanese people themselves. Good, clean, neat and respectable fun! - J.H.

Runlist for Japan, first broadcast  9-7-23

 01 The Spiders - Ko ko ko ke ko

02 Takeshi Terauchi - Ganroku Hanami Odori

03 Kimio Eto - Kibo no Hikari

04 Ryukyu Islands folk group - ヒヤミカチ節　ネーネーズ

05 Kiwi & the Papaya Mangoes - Kumatakihi He! - Welcome Home! My Sister!

06 Minyo Crusaders - Tanko Bushi

07 Sado Island folk group - Sado Okesa

08 Meiko Kaji - 怨み節 (東映映画「さそり」シリーズより)

09 Osamu Kitajima - Taiyo (The Sun)

10 The Spacemen - Sado Okesa

11 Senba Kiyohiko and Haniwa All Stars - Akarui Terenko Musume

12 Chakra – Itohoni

13 Rinsyoe Kida, Akira Ishikawa & His Count Buffalos - Lysergic Funk

14 Chitose Hajime – Ikyunnyakanabushi

Who let the Troggs out?


 

 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Al compás del mundo - programa #99 - Los Folkloristas

This week’s Al compás del mundo earns a pair of dedications. Primarily, to Las Folkloristas, a group of Mexican musicians who first came together in 1966 and who continue to the present day, delighting their public and educating them as to the breadth of folk music genres and instrumentation found in every corner of Latin America. The second dedication is to me and my sweetheart wife Claudia – we met at a concert of Los Folkloristas at the Sala Agora in Mexico City, in 1976. And yes, we too are still together. Get out your handkerchiefs and dry your eyes because there’s a story to be told as evidence that there’s a soulmate out there for everyone. You just have to make the effort to look, even if it takes you to a foreign land. And so it goes like this: I spent all of 1976 living in Mexico City, ostensibly to learn Spanish, but en realidad to loaf around, drink beer, practice my saxophone, and maybe, just maybe, look to meet a señorita. I lived in a pension (boardinghouse) owned by Jul
1 comment
Read more

Al compas del mundo - programa #114 - potpourri of fun, fun, fun

  Fun, Fun, Fun. And I do mean fun. Sometimes this summary of a weekly radio show veers off to a serious side, but not today. Not with this batch of winners. Not when we’re leading off with Los Xochimilcas. Like a mix of The Three Stooges and Spike Jones, they clamor for a round of “pulque for two!” with an eloquent danzón accompaniment. Then there’s Pigbag showing off some serious jazz chops…but is it jazz? Then again, who cares? Why fret over labels when we’re here to have fun?! So The Magnetic Fields’ tune isn’t exactly light-hearted glee and all, but fun comes in many packages. I had fun when I first heard I Die You Die. They sounded like the Velvet Underground had they hailed from West Virginia instead of New York. That’s not fun? Relatively speaking, there’s always room for Ennio Morricone. That lonesome whistle thrills me, along with the chorus of grunting injuns. A Spaghetti Western at its stereotypical best. Allen Toussaint, by the way, is one hell of a song writer, in case yo
Post a Comment
Read more