Reggae izakaya
Jan. 23rd, 2006 12:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
imomusThe best food I've eaten this week has been in reggae izakayas. A reggae izakaya is simply a drinking and eating joint where they play reggae. For some reason, the presence of reggae is an excellent indicator of good food. It's also, if you like reggae as much as I do, an indicator of good sounds.
At Sasurai in Sangenjaya last Wednesday the chef wore a dread hat and played a streaming Live365 station (it might have been Right On Scales or Zion Radio), and last last night at Tennoji they were playing a tape of Reggae Timebox, a dancehall compilation put together by Japanese sound crew Mighty Crown.
As an interesting (but not terribly deep) BBC radio documentary
on the Japanese dancehall phenomenon explained when it was broadcast in late 2004 (you can listen to it online here), "Japan is going mad crazy about reggae right now".
Sammy T, one of the Mighty Crown DJs (he's Japanese, but of Chinese origin, and has the Jamaican patois down pat) owns Raggachina, a dub plates store in Yokohama Chinatown. Nori, who works there, tries to explain the appeal of reggae in the documentary by linking it to Japan's Shinto festivals: "In Japan we have matsuri festival, with big drums going boom boom," he says. "The sound of that drum is connected to this reggae music."
It isn't the lyrics turning the Japanese on. Like me, they don't understand much of what's being said. It's textural. "The music is very straight, positive... half the people just vibing out to the rhythm," Nori says. One of the few actual Jamaicans in the Japanese reggae scene, Shandy Eye, agrees: "Japanese don't know roots rock reggae message now, just vibration," he says.
"Japan is known for absorbing musical influences and making them its own," explains Dan Greenbaum, music editor of Metropolis magazine. Perhaps that means reading explicitly Japanese meanings into the things they import (as well as stripping out alien metaphysics; are there any actual Japanese Rastafarians amongst the "fashion rastas" you see in every hip youth area?).
The peaceful feel of reggae certainly works with Shinto, as does its natural vibe. And maybe, for an overstressed culture, reggae is the ideal music to unwind with. Hisae tells me she thinks the reggae phenomenon in Japan relates to the Slow Life movement, and I can buy that. Ganja certainly slows you down and makes you feel irie.
Kyoto DJ Rotten Ranks sees another parallel. "Osaka people same like Jamaican, hot people," he says, adding for good measure "Tokyo is like New York City, Kyoto is like Kingston City."
But of course you know the real reason for the Japafarian thing, don't you? I mean, it's obvious, really. In Haile Sellasie the Rastafarians had an emperor they considered divine and immortal, and worshipped as a god in human form. Bingo!
At Sasurai in Sangenjaya last Wednesday the chef wore a dread hat and played a streaming Live365 station (it might have been Right On Scales or Zion Radio), and last last night at Tennoji they were playing a tape of Reggae Timebox, a dancehall compilation put together by Japanese sound crew Mighty Crown.
As an interesting (but not terribly deep) BBC radio documentary
on the Japanese dancehall phenomenon explained when it was broadcast in late 2004 (you can listen to it online here), "Japan is going mad crazy about reggae right now".Sammy T, one of the Mighty Crown DJs (he's Japanese, but of Chinese origin, and has the Jamaican patois down pat) owns Raggachina, a dub plates store in Yokohama Chinatown. Nori, who works there, tries to explain the appeal of reggae in the documentary by linking it to Japan's Shinto festivals: "In Japan we have matsuri festival, with big drums going boom boom," he says. "The sound of that drum is connected to this reggae music."
It isn't the lyrics turning the Japanese on. Like me, they don't understand much of what's being said. It's textural. "The music is very straight, positive... half the people just vibing out to the rhythm," Nori says. One of the few actual Jamaicans in the Japanese reggae scene, Shandy Eye, agrees: "Japanese don't know roots rock reggae message now, just vibration," he says.
"Japan is known for absorbing musical influences and making them its own," explains Dan Greenbaum, music editor of Metropolis magazine. Perhaps that means reading explicitly Japanese meanings into the things they import (as well as stripping out alien metaphysics; are there any actual Japanese Rastafarians amongst the "fashion rastas" you see in every hip youth area?).The peaceful feel of reggae certainly works with Shinto, as does its natural vibe. And maybe, for an overstressed culture, reggae is the ideal music to unwind with. Hisae tells me she thinks the reggae phenomenon in Japan relates to the Slow Life movement, and I can buy that. Ganja certainly slows you down and makes you feel irie.Kyoto DJ Rotten Ranks sees another parallel. "Osaka people same like Jamaican, hot people," he says, adding for good measure "Tokyo is like New York City, Kyoto is like Kingston City."
But of course you know the real reason for the Japafarian thing, don't you? I mean, it's obvious, really. In Haile Sellasie the Rastafarians had an emperor they considered divine and immortal, and worshipped as a god in human form. Bingo!
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(no subject)
Date: 2006-01-22 04:22 pm (UTC)chinese reggae
Date: 2008-01-30 01:17 pm (UTC)a friend of mine made this:
www.myspace.com/yampal
its "caiyunzhuiyue-reggae"
hope you like it.
mrs.b.
Re: chinese reggae
Date: 2008-01-30 01:22 pm (UTC)http://www.myspace.com/yampal
mrs.b
(no subject)
Date: 2006-01-22 05:13 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-01-22 06:47 pm (UTC)http://www.basicchannel.com/
(no subject)
Date: 2006-01-22 08:54 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-01-24 12:30 am (UTC)Monolake on the other hand, is a bit boring - he's just techno really slowed down (ps. he is not one of the members of R&S/Basic Channel, he was just signed to Chain Reaction for that album).
(no subject)
Date: 2006-01-23 06:45 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-01-22 05:15 pm (UTC)Hey! You and Linda McCartney DO have something in common.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-01-22 06:06 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-01-22 06:36 pm (UTC)The candyman can mon.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-01-22 07:12 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-01-22 06:40 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-01-22 07:21 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-01-22 07:58 pm (UTC)From the Wiki:
...on Nov 19 1954, when he almost died in an automobile accident in Oro Grande, California on a return trip from Las Vegas to Los Angeles and lost his left eye. The accident occurred on a bend in U.S. Highway 66 at a railroad bridge. While in the hospital, his friend Eddie Cantor told him about the similarities between the Jewish and black cultures. Davis converted to Judaism after reading a history of the Jews in the hospital. One paragraph about the ultimate endurance of the Jewish people intrigued him in particular: "The Jews would not die. Three centuries of prophetic teaching had given them an unwavering spirit of resignation and had created in them a will to live which no disaster could crush".
As for Satanism:
In 1973, in appreciation for his balanced approach to Satanism in the film "Poor Devil", the Church of Satan made Davis an Honorary Warlock II°. The award was presented to Davis on stage during one of his performances at the Circle Star Theater in San Carlos, California by Michael A. Aquino and Karla LaVey.
In Japan, Davis appeared in television commercials for coffee.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-02-19 06:07 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-01-22 06:27 pm (UTC)Often they didn't ask us for the cover, either because we were such a lively bunch or there were pretty girls with us. But to this day I'm not sure if they waived the cover or the girls paid, because other people often bought me drinks when I got into my all night dance trances.
I miss those reggae clubs...
(no subject)
Date: 2006-01-22 06:28 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-01-22 08:34 pm (UTC)The situation here is obviously different, but the idea that the consumer controls the meaning seems to be here as well...
(no subject)
Date: 2006-01-23 06:21 am (UTC)google before posting ...
Date: 2006-01-23 06:27 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-01-23 12:16 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-01-23 03:27 pm (UTC)Pro surfer and actor Maki Kuroudo (aka Claude Maki) has always been heavily into reggae. He even built his own reggae bar to run in the film "Bokunchi." I don't know if it's still the case, but his agent ran a reggae label with offices in Jamaica and here. I'd say they probably understand the lyrics.
It's still there after all these years!
(no subject)
Date: 2006-01-23 05:07 pm (UTC)Clive Chin
Date: 2006-01-23 08:31 pm (UTC)As an interesting side note--Mr. Clive Chin, the celebrated roots reggae producer (Randy's), I believe, is Jamaican of Chinese Origin. Although I'm not sure if he was rastafarian, he certainly produced some major roots work: Augustus Pablo, Wailers, etc. So anyway, the asian influence in roots reggae is precedented! Rock on Sammy T and the rest of them too!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clive_Chin
A Fan Always,
Winslow
PS: Mr. Chin is currently living in New York City--and producing again. Come on Momus, let's have a collaboration!!
(no subject)
Date: 2006-01-27 01:37 pm (UTC)cheers
seen
Date: 2006-01-29 08:26 am (UTC)It does seem to go against common understanding of the conservative Japanese culture to see tiny Japanese chicks whining there pum pums like they were born by the Caribbean (not Japan) sea.
On the other hand, it makes perfect sense that a conformist society would want an outlet to um... un-conform. It's sort of why Hip Hop is so popular with white suburbanites in North America.
I do however question if (like the suburbanites) while the japanese (yutes) them are braiding their hair, praising Jah, and bunning spliffs if they really do ever really GET the music and the culture in a deeper sense than what is simply on the surface. I was born in the caribbean, and I barely have a good understanding of the culture and the vibes.
Nonetheless, stumbling into that bar in Kyoto made me feel very warm and at home in an otherwise very foreign environment. Reggae and Caribbean culture deserves more recognition on a global scale, and the fact that places like Japan are realizing this is indeed a positive thing. Now if only on my next visit I can find a place where they play soca music...seen.
Don't be square...
Date: 2006-01-30 08:49 pm (UTC)The Japanese have taken reggae and made it their own. Enjoying reggae solely for it's history is like going to a museum to see dusty old manuscripts. If you can really get into that, and that has a lot of spiritual meaning for you then fine; but what would these things matter to Japanese kids whose history and personal experience have no contact with reggae roots. Enjoying something for the meaning it has at the present and within the immediate context is much more important and carries a lot more value.
Personally, I prefer Japanese Reggae culture, because spliffs spoil your senses, messing with your body and thoughts.
Re: Don't be square...
Date: 2006-02-07 05:49 am (UTC)Yes, Japanese Reggae is developing differently from that in the Caribbean, but the couple thousand youths that jam to Reggae in Tokyo (every fourth friday and second full moon in a leap year) donnot exist in a bubble do they?
It is great to develop your own culture, but if that culture is based on a previous and certainly if it is based on an existing culture, then I think the Japanese owe it to themselves to do their homework before they can call themselves rudebwoys/gyals...seen?
Re: seen
Date: 2006-04-18 12:32 pm (UTC)Check out our latest Soca (2006) release "Z - Sweet Music". Free Download available at following link:
http://www.rocknvibes.com/promotion/sweet_music.htm
Enjoy
Rock 'N Vibes Ent.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-02-01 12:31 pm (UTC)I need a friend in Japan........ :@)
Date: 2006-08-24 06:20 pm (UTC)I'm looking for someone in Japan who i can communicate with, there is a new documentary getting screened in Japan in the Fall in some theatre, it's gonna be an excellent documentary lots of good artists and interviews but i'm not sure if it will ever get released in the west, maybe one day, it's only just at the film festival stages shortly, i'm hoping it will be on sale in Japan but our UK search engines don't search japans stuff very well! and can't find any contacts out there for it. Any help would be apreciated, im looking for producers or directors info, please email me for more info. If there is anyone willing to try and get me a copy it would be much apreciated, also looking for serious reggae/JA/Rasta film collectors to link with........
Pete(UK)
I need a friend in Japan........ :@)
Date: 2006-08-24 06:20 pm (UTC)I'm looking for someone in Japan who i can communicate with, there is a new documentary getting screened in Japan in the Fall in some theatre, it's gonna be an excellent documentary lots of good artists and interviews but i'm not sure if it will ever get released in the west, maybe one day, it's only just at the film festival stages shortly, i'm hoping it will be on sale in Japan but our UK search engines don't search japans stuff very well! and can't find any contacts out there for it. Any help would be apreciated, im looking for producers or directors info, please email me for more info. If there is anyone willing to try and get me a copy it would be much apreciated, also looking for serious reggae/JA/Rasta film collectors to link with........
Pete(UK)
info@reggaedvds.co.uk