(Click here for other posts about Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra)
Entering the venue.
I finally (finally!!!) got the chance to see Japan’s legendary Ska band Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra in Matsuyama, Japan, the last leg of their “Skanking Japan” livehouse tour.
I always prefer to see bands at their “home base” or home country if possible, so I was ecstatic to do so this time. But why Matsuyama? Well...by the time I found out about the tour, all the other locations were sold out! Plus, the date simply worked out better with my schedule.
TSPO played at Matsuyama’s w Studio RED for two days (6/23 & 6/24); I attended the second show, the last show of the tour. Unfortunately for me, since I bought my ticket from overseas, I had to wait for quite awhile to get in. But the wait wasn’t long, and before I knew it I was inside, waiting for the guys to enter!
Chara is known for her childish "whisper" voice.
At 47, she should also be known for her inability to age! She plays the guitar and piano, and writes nearly all of her songs. (Photo from her Facebook page).
Chara (real name: Watabiki Miwa 綿引美和), is hands-down my favorite female Japanese singer. I discovered her music as a junior high student when I was looking for new Japanese artists to listen to. Immediately, I was mesmerized by her soft, slightly raspy voice which occasionally takes on a husky, almost harsh tone. Chara's speaking voice is actually somewhat deep, yet it often transforms into a light, high-pitched tone when she sings.
I admire the personal nature of Chara's music and her willingness to share her deep inner feelings in her lyrics. Innocence (Sweet), intimacy (Junior Sweet, her performance of this song with TSPO on the left), and divorce (Breaking Hearts) have all been subjects of her songs. I admire Chara because no topic appears to be "off limits" for her when writing music. Chara's creativity transcends her sound; to add a sense of childlike innocence to her songs, she often uses the male personal pronoun boku (僕).
Chara's thoughtfulness in regards to her music hasn't changed since her major debut in 1990, yet her style has evolved through many phases: mainstream with a touch of black gospel in the early 90s; acoustic-heavy in the mid to late 90s; experimental indie in the early 2000s; mainstream pop in the mid 2000s; and mostly popish experimental indies style today. Nevertheless, she has always distinctly remained herself.
Chara peaked in popularity in the mid-90s after her lead role in the successful Shunji Iwai film, Swaillowtail Butterfly. In the film, she played Glico (yes, taken from the snack company), a Chinese immigrant turned lead singer of the fictional Yen Town Band; to accompany the movie, Chara and the Yen Town Band released a record which took first place on the Japanese Oricon music chart for quite some time. On the right is a clip of her gospel-like performance of Happy Toy from the 1997 Asasaka Blitz tour, not long after the movie was released. (A couple members of the Yen Town Band played support on the tour, and TSPO's founder ASA-CHANG was on percussion. He helped produce some of her songs as well). Despite her emergence as a well-known singer, actress, and fashion icon, after the 90s, Chara focused on motherhood and preferred a more indie existence as a musician.
Yasashii Kimochi(やさしい気持ち; Kind Feelings) - one of her most popular songs, second only to Swallowtail Butterfly- was the first song of her's that I heard all those years ago. Still, the dreamlike feeling of the song sounds fresh to me. To my delight, in 2013 Chara released Jewel, a self-cover album which includes Yasashii Kimochi, Swallowail Butterfly, and 10 other songs. I thought it would be amazing to watch her perform after Jewel was released because, naturally, she would be playing several songs from across her discography that she hadn't played in a few years. Little did I know I'd get an opportunity to see her without having to go to Japan!
Due to a thing called life, I haven't gotten to see many concerts here in Taiwan. A lot of my favorite bands and singers have come to Taiwan over the past few months, and but I had to pass up a lot of shows. However, when I was told Clazziquai was coming, I had to make time to go!
Clazziquai are DJ Clazzi (programmer); Horan (vocals), and Alex (vocals)
I've known of Clazziquai for awhile, especially because of their collaborations with two other groups that I like, Epik High ("Honjarado [Alone]") and m-flo ("Love Me After 12am"; "Love Mode"). Nonetheless, for some reason I didn't really start listening to them until last year. I fell in love with them instantly. Clazziquai's music is easy listening, and it's diffiult to resist Alex and Horan's vocals (which I think are some of the best in K-pop). I think Clazziquai sounds like elevator music "done right". In other words, it's soothing and other worldly, thanks in part to DJ Clazzi's expert mixing.
(You can read more about Gigi Leung and Donald Tseng here and here, respectively.)
Nope, this was not the concert ticket, it was the flyer, adorably shaped
like a plane ticket!
The concert poster
They clearly put a lot of thought into their music no matter what the tone or language (Cantonese, Mandarin, English, French, or a mixture of two or three) is. So, when I moved to Taiwan and discovered they'd be playing in Taipei, I knew I had to see them!
