Search and Destroy: Japanese Reggae in General (and the Di Vibes Compilation Series in partiocular)

Adrian Sherwood is raking it in over in Japan at the moment, releasing new ON-U product over there that us UK'er have yet to see the light of day .. subsequently he has been involved with several japanese dub outfits - Audio Active for a start .. and Dry and Heavy ..

Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra are a great live band, BTW.

That they are. I'm going to see them again in a couple weeks. I don't think they count though.

Search: Dry and Heavy, Little Tempo, Reggae Disco Rockers, Kazue Takagi (Cinematik Dub),

Pushim, whose new album Queendom will hit stores on Aug. 4, believes the use of Japanese lyrics has brought reggae much closer to a new generation of fans who identify more easily with local singers and emcees than with Jamaican ones.

"There are some differences among the people who would go (to Japansplash and Yokohama Reggae Sai)," she says. "For a start, there are a lot more people who want to sing along at Yokohama."

Talking to Pushim, there's also a feeling that Japansplash, which was strongly associated with an earlier reggae boom in Japan in the early '90s, had lost touch with what the new generation of reggae fans wanted to listen to. It seems the event was clinging to artists that had long since lost their "hot" status in Jamaica.

In other words, move aside Frankie Paul, Luciano and Beres Hammond, here are Pushim, Fire Ball and the Mighty Crown.

While the future of Japansplash remains in doubt, plenty of other events have emerged to challenge the Yokohama Reggae Sai as Japan's leading reggae meet. And many of them are following the precedent it set last year of moving to an outdoor venue and rocketing in size.

"This year Yokohama's going to be twice the size of last year, so that'll make it about 20,000," says Pushim. "Highest Mountain in Osaka, which will be held outdoors for the first time this year, is aiming for 10,000.

"After that there are loads of smaller ones from Sapporo to Fukuoka...I'm playing at just about all of these outdoor reggae events so for details on them take a look at my Web site (www.pushim.com)."

If the Mighty Crown have the biggest reggae event in Japan now, does Pushim believe that makes them the most significant act in shaping the Japanese reggae scene?

The answer is "yes" and "no."

"In terms of pulling in new fans into reggae and getting young people to dance and letting the world know about Japanese reggae, then Mighty Crown deserve respect," says Pushim, who stresses there's no definitive answer to such a question. "But in terms of putting reggae into Japanese, the originator was Rankin' Taxi. He made his own sound system and was really pushing forward the frontier.

"When it comes to song-making and getting people to feel reggae, I think we also merit some respect," Pushim adds with a chuckle.

http://www.tuff-ride.com/2005%203%2017/LP-vs-MIGHTY-CROWN-2.jpg

Oki Dub Ainu Band and Marewrew (reggae/Japanese indigenous music)
Part Of "Japan! Culture + Hyperculture"
Live for free and webcast live from the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage
in Washington DC from 6pm to 7 p.m. Free Friday February 8th 2008
www.kennedy-center.org/programs/millennium

Swerving off-topic:

When I was stationed in Okinawa, a lot the local music I heard there had a rhythm and momentum that felt very similar to ska. You hear this somewhat in Shoukichi Kina, but it's more pronounced, I think, in traditional music of the Ryukyus. Does anybody else form this (admittedly subjective) connection? Or know much about this kind of music?

I remember drawing this elaborate cultural analogy in which Japan is to Asia as Britain is to Europe, and the Ryukyus are to Japan as the West Indies are to Britain.