Soul Flower Mononoke Summit
Deracine Ching Dong (BM Tunes)
It's nine years since the acoustic offshoot of the Osaka band Soul Flower Union released their last album of chindon-inspired music. Their Mononoke Summit era began during 1995 when the band unplugged to play in Kobe for survivors of the Great Hanshin Earthquake. Two albums followed and songs from these included the classic "Fukko Bushi" which became a much requested favourite of Soul Flower live sets and was included on The Rough Guide to Japan CD. This third Mononoke Summit album has been a long time coming but is everything we could have hoped for, and one critic has even hailed it as the best Japanese album since WW2.
Here are old Japanese hits as you've never heard them before, Okinawan shimauta, a Korean song, and Nakagawa Takashi originals, all thrown together in a glorious mix. The band themselves are labelling it "Japanese Traditional Ching Dong Punk". Unlike previous Mononoke Summit albums, which were either partly or completely recorded live in front of audiences, this newest set has been put together in the studio but is none the worse for that and is easily on a par with its much respected predecessors. Its inclusion here in the Okinawan section is due to the fact that this time there is a much stronger element of Okinawan influence, rather than just the addition of Nakagawa's sanshin and Itami's sanba as before. Founder band member Itami Hideko is now resident in Okinawa and has brought a hefty chunk of island spirit to the album with her. Included in this set are three Okinawan songs, "Shima Sodachi", "Kunjan Jintoyo", and Teruya Masao's popular children's song "Chon Chon Kijimuna". Young Okinawan singer Nakamura Natsuki also lends a hand as guest musician and vocalist. She has worked with both Ryukyu Underground and Ryukyudisco as well as appearing on an album of children's songs with Yonaha Toru. The Ryukyu influence also extends to Soul Flower leader Nakagawa Takashi who has written one song here, the catchy "Majimun Jamboree", which is deliberately composed in the Okinawan style.
Best of all, Mononoke Summit enjoy mixing things up. As well as the strong and lively Okinawan flavour there is also a version of the Korean song "Toraji" which will doubtless join the earlier "Ariran" as a favourite of their live shows. There is a recording of the original Kyoto song "Takeda no Komoriuta", and a nice mix of old Japanese songs including "Otomi san" which was a big hit 50 or so years ago. Meanwhile "Ama no Kawa" is a re-working of a song by Itami Hideko first found on SFU's 1996 album "Electro Asyl-Bop". Even closer to home, "Kamagasaki Ninjo" is a song about the destitute of Osaka which was written by one of the homeless. In fact, this album covers the broadest musical ground of the three Mononoke Summit albums. And as if this wasn't enough, Irish music legend Donal Lunny (also resident in Okinawa) provides some guest bouzouki on several tracks. As we've come to expect from Soul Flower productions, the CD packaging is once again flawless and there is an English translation of the Japanese liner notes. These notes inform us that the word deracine means uprooted and refers to people far removed from their homes or robbed of kin. In 1960s Japan it was also used to refer to roaming revolutionaries. The intriguing cover photo is from the Amami island of Tokunoshima and somehow typifies Mononoke Summit's mission in foraging to the heart of ordinary Japanese life. Their underlying social and political stance is applied here to their home islands and complements alter ego Soul Flower Union's more international concerns with Palestine and East Timor.
I don't know if it's the best album since WW2 but it's pretty damn good. I hadn't imagined there would be a third album from SFMS or that we would be able to hear once more the fresh sound of their sanshin, chindon, accordion and clarinet, so here's one to savour at last: an album of real roots from these islands.
John Potter
Posted by courtesy of the author. Originally appeared in Kansai Time Out, published 2006/6/5 online. See the original article. Also see the article "Bouzoukinawa!" to know Donal Lunny's participation in this album.
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