Kawachiya Kikumizumaru & Ethno Rhythm All Stars

Among all the amazing 7"s offered through the years by the fantastic Kishino Yuichi, one always struck me for its unique merge of traditionnal folkloric elements with a typical 80's studio production (snare drum ! chorus guitar !) and a sense of groove that makes it sound almost funky and obsessive like a crazy roundabout.

















Song title Kawachi ondo de yoru wo bouttobase may be translated more or less as "Our night will be short thanks to the rhythm of Kawachi", Kawachi being an area close to Osaka, and various areas having different songs to dance on to celebrate Obon.

Obon matsuri is, among all the celebrations, the one dedicated to honour the dead, around August 15th (sometimes July, depending on places). Well, a joyfull one, according to the track...


Kawachiya Kikumizumaru & Ethno Rhythm All Stars - Side_A.mp3


Kawachiya Kikumizumaru & Ethno Rhythm All Stars - Side_B.mp3

As a last word, I noticed the main element of this traditionnal song was reincorporated by the band A&E (Andrew Sharpley and Emiko Ota, who also performs in a more traditionnal percussion project Heiwa Daiko) in their track Testing time.
Those curious about a collaged punk meets digital cutups version are invited visit Sonig to have a look at the Bootleg LP it is extract from (and may have a preview here too).

Many thanks to Kishino-san for this beloved present, and to Mami Chan for kind translation and infos.