PERKEMBANGAN MUSIC JAPAN.

J-Pop (Japanese Pop) Main article: J-pop J-pop, an abbreviation for Japanese pop, is a loosely-defined musical genre that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1990s. Modern J-pop has its roots in 1960s music such as The Beatles,[6] and replaced kayōkyoku ("Lyric Singing Music", a term for Japanese pop music from the 1920s to the 1980s) in the Japanese music scene.[7] The term was coined by the Japanese media to distinguish Japanese music from foreign music, today the most powerful singers and bands in the gender are Emi Tawata, Puffy AmiYumi and the new popular DJ Kawasaki knowns in all the world, and now refers to most Japanese popular music. [edit] J-Rock (Japanese Rock) In the 1960s, Japanese bands imitated The Beatles, Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones, along with other Appalachian folk music, psychedelic rock, mod and similar genres; this was called Group Sounds (G.S.). John Lennon of The Beatles later became one of most popular Western musicians in Japan.[8] Group Sounds is a genre of Japanese rock music that was popular in the mid to late 1960s.[citation needed] After the boom of Group Sounds, there were several influential singer-songwriters. Nobuyasu Okabayashi was the first who became widely recognized.[citation needed] Wataru Takada, inspired by Woody Guthrie, also became popular.[citation needed]. They both were influenced by American folk music but wrote Japanese lyrics. Takada used modern Japanese poetry as lyrics, while Kazuki Tomokawa made an album using Chuya Nakahara's poems. Tomobe Masato, inspired by Bob Dylan, wrote critically acclaimed lyrics.[citation needed] The Tigers was the most popular Group Sounds band in the era. Later, some of the members of The Tigers, The Tempters and The Spiders formed the first Japanese supergroup Pyg. Homegrown Japanese folk rock had developed by the late 1960s.[citation needed] Artists like Happy End are considered to have virtually developed the genre. During the 1970s, it grew more popular.[citation needed] The Okinawan band Champloose, along with Carol (led by Eikichi Yazawa), RC Succession and Shinji Harada were especially famous and helped define the genre's sound. Sometimes also beginning in the late sixties, but mostly active in the seventies, are musicians mixing rock music with American-style folk and pop elements, usually labelled "folk" by the Japanese because of their regular use of the acoustic guitar. This includes bands like Off Course, Tulip, Alice (led by Shinji Tanimura), Kaguyahime, Banban, and Garo. Solo artists of the same movement include Yosui Inoue, Yuming, and Iruka. Later groups, like Kai Band (led by Yoshihiro Kai) and early Southern All Stars, are often attached to the same movement. A colour photograph of three members of Yellow Magic Orchestra at the front of a stage Yellow Magic Orchestra in 2008 Several Japanese musicians began experimenting with electronic rock in the early 1970s. The most notable was the internationally renowned Isao Tomita, whose 1972 album Electric Samurai: Switched on Rock featured electronic synthesizer renditions of contemporary rock and pop songs.[9] Other early examples of electronic rock records include Inoue Yousui's folk rock and pop rock album Ice World (1973) and Osamu Kitajima's progressive psychadelic rock album Benzaiten (1974), both of which involved contributions from Haruomi Hosono,[10][11] who later started the electronic music group "Yellow Magic Band" (later known as Yellow Magic Orchestra) in 1977.[12] Most influentially, the 1970s spawned the electronic music band Yellow Magic Orchestra, led by Haruomi Hosono. In the 1980s, Boøwy inspired alternative rock bands like Shonen Knife, Boredoms, The Pillows and Tama & Little Creatures as well as more mainstream bands as Glay. In 1980, Huruoma and Ry Cooder, an American musician, collaborated on a rock album with Shoukichi Kina, driving force behind the aforementioned Okinawan band Champloose. They were followed by Sandii & the Sunsetz, who further mixed Japanese and Okinawan influences. Also during the 80s, Japanese metal and rock bands gave birth to the movement known as visual kei, represented during its history by bands like X Japan, Buck-Tick, Luna Sea, Malice Mizer and many others, some of which experienced national, and international success in the latest years. In the 1990s, Japanese rock musicians such as B'z, Mr. Children, Glay, Southern All Stars, L'Arc-en-Ciel, Tube, Spitz, Wands, T-Bolan, Judy and Mary, Asian Kung–Fu Generation, Field of View, Deen, Ulfuls, Lindberg, Sharam Q, The Yellow Monkey, The Brilliant Green and Dragon Ash achieved great commercial success.[citation needed] B'z is the #1 best selling act in Japanese music since Oricon started to count.[citation needed], followed by Mr. Children.[citation needed] In the '90s, pop songs were often used in films, anime, television advertisement and dramatic programming, becoming some of the best-selling forms of music in Japan.[citation needed] The rise of disposable pop has been linked with the popularity of karaoke, leading to criticism that it is consumerist: Kazufumi Miyazawa of The Boom said "I hate that buy, listen, and throw away and sing at a karaoke bar mentality." Of the visual kei bands Luna Sea, whose members toned down their on-stage attire with on-going success, was either very successful, while Malice Mizer, La'cryma Christi, Shazna, Janne Da Arc, and Fanatic Crisis also achieved commercial success in the late '90s.[citation needed] Green Stage of the Fuji Rock Festival The first Fuji Rock Festival opened in 1997. Rising Sun Rock Festival opened in 1999. Summer Sonic Festival and Rock in Japan Festival opened in 2000. Though the rock scene in the 2000s is not as strong, newer bands such as Bump of Chicken, Sambomaster, Flow, Orange Range, Remioromen, Uverworld, Radwimps and Aqua Timez, which are considered rock bands, have achieved success. Orange Range also adopts[clarification needed] hip hop. Established bands as B'z, Mr. Children, Glay, and L'Arc-en-Ciel also continue to top charts, though B'z and Mr. Children are the only bands to maintain a high standards of their sales along the years. Japanese rock has a vibrant underground rock scene,[citation needed] best known internationally for noise rock bands such as Boredoms and Melt Banana, as well as stoner rock bands such as Boris and alternative acts such as Shonen Knife (who were championed in the West by Kurt Cobain), Pizzicato Five and The Pillows (who gained international attention in 1999 for the FLCL soundtrack). More conventional indie rock artists such as Eastern Youth, The Band Apart and Number Girl have found some success in Japan[citation needed] , but little recognition outside of their home country. Other notable international touring indie rock acts are Mono and Nisennenmondai. [edit] Punk rock / alternative Further information: Japanese hardcore Early examples of punk rock/no wave in Japan include The SS, The Star Club, The Stalin, INU, Gaseneta, Bomb Factory, Lizard (who were produced by the Stranglers) and Friction (whose guitarist Reck had previously played with Teenage Jesus and the Jerks before returning to Tokyo) and The Blue Hearts. The early punk scene was immortalised on film by Sogo Ishii, who directed the 1982 film Burst City featuring a cast of punk bands/musicians and also filmed videos for The Stalin. In the 80s, hardcore bands such as GISM, Gauze, Confuse, Lip Cream and Systematic Death began appearing, some incorporating crossover elements.[citation needed] The independent scene also included a diverse number of alternative/post-punk/new wave artists such as Aburadako, P-Model, Uchoten, Auto-Mod, Buck-Tick, Guernica and Yapoos (both of which featured Jun Togawa), G-Schmitt, Totsuzen Danball and Jagatara, along with noise/industrial bands such as Hijokaidan and Hanatarashi. Ska-punk bands of the late nineties extending in the years 2000 include Shakalabbits and 175R (pronounced "inago rider"). [edit] J-Metal (Heavy metal) Japan is known for being a successful area for metal bands touring around the world and many live albums are recorded in Japan. Notable examples are Judas Priest's Unleashed in the East, Iron Maiden's Maiden Japan, Deep Purple's Made in Japan and Dream Theater's Live at Budokan. From the international bands, such as Angra, Sonata Arctica and Skylark have had major success in Japan.[citation needed] First Japanese heavy metal bands started emerging in the late 1970s, pioneered by bands like Bow Wow, formed in 1975 by guitarist Kyoji Yamamoto, and Loudness, formed in 1981 by guitarist Akira Takasaki. Although there existed other contemporary bands, like Earthshaker, Anthem and 44 Magnum, their debut albums were released only around the mid eighties when metal bands started getting an major exposure. First oversease live performances were by Bow Wow in 1978 in Hong Kong and at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, as well played at the Reading Festival in England in 1982.[13] In 1983 Loudness toured United States and Europe, and started focusing more on an international career. In 1985 was a first Japanese metal act signed to a major label in the United States. Their albums Thunder in the East and Lightning Strikes released in 1985 and 1986 peaked at number 74 (while number 4 in homeland Oricon chart), and number 64 in the Billboard 200 charts respectively.[14][15] Till the end of the eightes only two other bands, Ezo and Dead End, got their albums released in the United States. In the eighties few bands had a female members, like all-female band Show Ya fronted by Keiko Terada, and Terra Rosa with Kazue Akao on vocals. In September 1989, Show Yas album Outerlimits was released, it reached number 3 in the Oricon album chart.[16] Heavy metal bands reached their peak in the late '80s and many disbanded until the mid 1990s. Concert of pioneer of visual kei, X Japan at Hong Kong in 2009 after their 2007 reunion. In 1982 were formed some of the first Japanese glam metal bands, like Seikima-II with Kabuki-inspired makeup, and X Japan who pioneered the Japanese movement known as visual kei, and became the best-selling metal band.[17] In 1985, Seikima-IIs album Seikima-II - Akuma ga Kitarite Heavy Metal was released and although reached number 48 on the Oricon album chart exceeded 100,000 in sales, first time for any Japanese metal band. Their albums charted regularly in the top ten until mid '90s. In April 1989, X Japans second album Blue Blood was released and went to number 6, and after 108 weeks on charts sold 712,000 copies.[18] In July 1991 was released their third and best-selling album Jelaousy, it topped the charts and sold 1.11 million copies.[18] There were released more two number one studio albums, Art of Life and Dahlia, a singles compilation X Singles, all selling more than half a million,[19] and since the formation had thirteenth top five singles, disbanding in 1996.[20] [edit] Extreme metal Japanese extreme heavy metal bands formed in the wake of American and European wave, but didn’t get any bigger exposure until the ‘90s, and like overseas the genre is usually treated as an underground form of music in Japan.[citation needed] First thrash metal bands formed in the early '80s, like United, whose music also incorporates death metal elements, and Outrage. United's first international performance took place in Los Angeles at the metal festival “Foundations Forum” in September 1995 and had few albums released in North America. Formed in the mid ‘80s, Doom played a gig in the United States in October 1988 at CBGB, and was active until 2000 when disbanded. The first bands to play black metal music were Sabbat, who is still active, and Bellzlleb, who was active until early ‘90s. Another notable act is Sigh. Doom metal has also gained an audience in Japan. The two best-known Japanese doom metal acts are Church of Misery and Boris, both of whom have gained considerable popularity outside the country. [edit] Electropop and club music See also: Electronic music, Electropop, Synthpop, and Electro music Electronic pop music in Japan became a successful commodity with the "Technopop" craze of the late 70s and 80s.[citation needed], beginning with Yellow Magic Orchestra and solo albums of Ryuichi Sakamoto and Haruomi Hosono in 1978 before hitting popularity in 79/80. Influenced by disco, impressionistic and 20th century classical composition, jazz/fusion pop, new wave and technopop artists such as Kraftwerk and Telex, these artists were commercial yet uncompromising.[citation needed] Ryuichi Sakamoto claims that "to me, making pop music is not a compromise because I enjoy doing it". The artists that fall under the banner of technopop in Japan are as loose as those that do so in the West, thus new wave bands such as P-Model and The Plastics fall under the category alongside the symphonic techno arrangements of Yellow Magic Orchestra. The popularity of this music meant that many popular artists of the 70s that previously were known for acoustic music turned to techno production,.[citation needed] such as Taeko Onuki and Akiko Yano, and idol producers began employing electronic arrangements for new singers in the 80s.[citation needed] Today, newer artists such as Polysics pay explicit homage to this era of Japanese popular (and in some cases underground or difficult to obtain) music..[citation needed] [edit] Dance and disco music Further information: Eurobeat and Para Para In 1984, American musician Michael Jackson's album Thriller became the first album by a Western artist to sell over one million copies in Japanese Oricon charts history.[21] His style is cited as one of the models for Japanese dance music, leading the popularity of Avex Group and Johnny & Associates.[22] In 1990, Avex Trax began to release the Super Eurobeat series in Japan. Eurobeat in Japan led the popularity of group dance form Para Para. While Avex's artists such as Every Little Thing and Ayumi Hamasaki became popular in 1990s, new names in the late 90s included Hikaru Utada and Morning Musume. Hikaru Utada's debut album, First Love, went on to be the highest-selling album in Japan with over 7 million copies sold, whereas Ayumi Hamasaki became Japan's top selling female and solo artist, and Morning Musume remains one of the most well-known girl groups in the Japanese pop music industry. [edit] Hip-Hop Main article: Japanese hip-hop Hip-hop is a newer form of music on the Japanese music scene. Many felt it was a trend that would immediately pass. However, the genre has lasted for many years and is still thriving. In fact, rappers in Japan did not achieve the success of hip-hop artists in other countries until the late 1980s. This was mainly due to the music world's belief that "Japanese sentences were not capable of forming the rhyming effect that was contained in American rappers' songs."[23] There is a certain, well-defined structure to the music industry called "The Pyramid Structure of a Music Scene". As Ian Condry notes, "viewing a music scene in terms of a pyramid provides a more nuanced understanding of how to interpret the significance of different levels and kinds of success."[24] The levels are as follows (from lowest to highest): fans and potential artists, performing artists, recording artists (indies), major label artists, and mega-hit stars. These different levels can be clearly seen at a genba, or nightclub. Different "families" of rappers perform on stage. A family is essentially a collection of rap groups that are usually headed by one of the more famous Tokyo acts, which also include a number of proteges.[25] They are important because they are "the key to understanding stylistic differences between groups."[26] Hip-hop fans in the audience are the ones in control of the night club. They are the judges who determine the winners in rap battles on stage. An example of this can be seen with the battle between rap artists Dabo (a major label artist) and Kan (an indie artist). Kan challenged Dabo to a battle on stage while Dabo was mid-performance. Another important part of night clubs was displayed at this time. It showed "the openness of the scene and the fluidity of boundaries in clubs."[27] [edit] Roots music In the late 1980s, roots bands like Shang Shang Typhoon and The Boom became popular. Okinawan roots bands like Nenes and Kina were also commercially and critically successful. This led to the second wave of Okinawan music, led by the sudden success of Rinkenband. A new wave of bands followed, including the comebacks of Champluse and Kina, as led by Kikusuimaru Kawachiya; very similar to kawachi ondo is Tadamaru Sakuragawa's goshu ondo. [edit] Latin, reggae and ska music Further information: J-ska and Japanese reggae Other forms of music from Indonesia, Jamaica and elsewhere were assimilated. African soukous and Latin music, like Orquesta de la Luz (オルケスタ・デ・ラ・ルス), was popular as was Jamaican reggae and ska, exemplified by Mice Teeth, Mute Beat, La-ppisch, Home Grown and Ska Flames, Determinations, and Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra. [edit] Noise music Main article: Japanoise Another recognized music form, from Japan is noise music. The noise from this country is called Japanoise. Its most prominent representative is Masami Akita with his project Merzbow. [edit] Theme music See also: Music in Japanese animation Theme music composed for films, anime, Tokusatsu, and Japanese television dramas are considered a separate music genre. Several prominent musical artists and groups have spent most of their musical careers performing theme songs and composing soundtracks for visual media. Such artists include Masato Shimon (current holder of the world record for most successful single in Japan for "Oyoge! Taiyaki-kun"),[28] Ichirou Mizuki, all of the members of JAM Project, Akira Kushida, Isao Sasaki, and Mitsuko Horie. Notable composers of Japanese theme music include Joe Hisaishi, Michiru Oshima, Yoko Kanno, Toshihiko Sahashi, Yuki Kajiura, Kōtarō Nakagawa and Hayashi Yuuki. [edit] Game music See also: Video game music When the first electronic games were sold, they only had rudimentary sound chips with which to produce music. As the technology advanced, the quality of sound and music these game machines could produce increased dramatically. The first game to take credit for its music was Xevious, also noteworthy for its deeply (at that time) constructed stories. Though many games have had beautiful music to accompany their gameplay, one of the most important games in the history of the video game music is Dragon Quest. Koichi Sugiyama, a composer who was known for his music for various anime and TV shows, including Cyborg 009 and a feature film of Godzilla vs. Biollante, got involved in the project out of the pure curiosity and proved that games can have serious soundtracks. Until his involvement, music and sounds were often neglected in the development of video games and programmers with little musical knowledge were forced to write the soundtracks as well. Undaunted by technological limits, Sugiyama worked with only 8 part polyphony to create a soundtrack that would not tire the player despite hours and hours of gameplay. Another well-known author of video game music is Nobuo Uematsu. Even Uematsu's earlier compositions for the game series, Final Fantasy, on Famicom (Nintendo Entertainment System in America) are being arranged for full orchestral score. In 2003, he even took his rock-based tunes from their original MIDI format and created The Black Mages. Yasunori Mitsuda is a highly known composer of such games as Xenogears, Xenosaga Episode I, Chrono Cross, and Chrono Trigger. Koji Kondo, the main composer for Nintendo, is also prominent on the Japanese game music scene. He is best known for the Zelda and Mario themes. Motoi Sakuraba is also another well-known video game composer. He is known for composing the Tales Series, Star Ocean, Valkyrie Profile, Golden Sun, and the Baten Kaitos games, as well as numerous Mario Sports games. The techno/trance music production group I've Sound has made a name for themselves first by making themes for eroge computer games, and then by breaking into the anime scene by composing themes for them. Unlike others, this group was able to find fans in other parts of the world through their eroge and anime themes. Today, game soundtracks are sold on CD. Famous singers like Hikaru Utada, Ayumi Hamasaki and Gackt sometimes sing songs for games as well, and this is also seen as a way for singers to make a names for themselves. [edit] See also 2010 in Japanese music All-Japan Band Association Buddhist music Chindonya Enka Group Sounds Japanese hardcore Japanese hip hop Japanoise J-pop J-ska Oricon Ryūkōka Seiyū Shibuya-kei Shintō music Visual kei Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra List of Japanese rock bands List of Japanese hip hop musicians List of J-pop artists In scale [edit] References ^ Clewley, pg. 143 ^ "America's Top Pop Imports". Forbes. 2008-02-26. Retrieved 2010-09-23. ^ http://factsanddetails.com/japan.php?itemid=708&catid=20&subcatid=130 ^ "News World news Germany Lost in translation" ^ History of Taiko [1] "鼓と太鼓のながれ" - 中国の唐からわが国に入ってきたいろんな太鼓が、時代と共にどのように変遷してきたかを各種の資料からまとめると、次のようになる。 ^ "究極のビートルズ来日賞味法！ ビートルズが日本に与えたもの" (in Japanese). Oricon. 2006-06-21. Retrieved 2009-01-09. ^ "J-POPって何だろう？そして今、改めて歌謡曲の魅力とは？" (in Japanese). Chūkyō Television Broadcasting. 2008. Retrieved 2009-10-30. ^ "Japan keeps Lennon's memory alive". BBC. 2008-12-08. Retrieved 2009-03-10. ^ Mark Jenkins (2007), Analog synthesizers: from the legacy of Moog to software synthesis, Elsevier, pp. 133–4, ISBN 0240520726, retrieved 2011-05-27 ^ 井上陽水 – 氷の世界 at Discogs (Translation) ^ Osamu Kitajima – Benzaiten at Discogs ^ Harry Hosono And The Yellow Magic Band – Paraiso at Discogs ^ "Kyoji Yamamoto leaves all inhibitions behind". japantimes.co.jp. 2009-04-18. Retrieved 2011-09-14. ^ http://www.billboard.com/charts/billboard-200#/album/loudness/thunder-in-the-east/10735 ^ "Lightning Strikes - Loudness". Billboard. 1991. Retrieved 2010-03-14. ^ "Outerlimits Oricon chart" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved 12 September 2010. ^ Strauss, Neil (1998-06-18). "The Pop Life: End of a Life, End of an Era". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-05-09. ^ a b "X、初期のリマスター再発商品2作が好調！" (in Japanese). Oricon. 2007-02-14. Retrieved 2009-07-23. ^ "X JAPAN" (in Japanese). biglobe.ne.jp. Retrieved 2011-10-21. ^ "X JAPANのシングル売り上げランキング" (in Japanese). oricon.co.jp. Retrieved 2011-08-31. ^ (Japanese) "【マイケル急死】日本でもアルバム売り上げ１位を獲得". Sankei Shimbun. 2009-06-26. Retrieved 2009-06-27. ^ (Japanese) "さよならポップス界のピーターパン　栄光と奇行と". Asahi Shimbun. 2009-06-26. Retrieved 2009-06-27.[dead link] ^ Kinney, Caleb. "Hip-hop influences Japanese Culture. http://www.lightonline.org/articles/chiphopjapan.html ^ Condry, Ian. "Hip-Hop Japan". Durham and London, Duke University Press, 102. ^ Condry, Ian. "A History of Japanese Hip-Hop: Street Dance, Club Scene, Pop Market." In Global Noise: Rap and Hip-Hop Outside the USA, 237, Middletown: Wesleyan University Press, 2001. ^ Condry, Ian. "A History of Japanese Hip-Hop: Street Dance, Club Scene, Pop Market." In Global Noise: Rap and Hip-Hop Outside the USA, 237. Middletown: Wesleyan University Press, 2001. ^ Condry, Ian. "Hip-Hop Japan". Durham and London, Duke University Press, 144. ^ "「およげ！たいやきくん」がギネス認定、再評価の気運高まる". Oricon. 2008-02-20. Retrieved 2008-12-16. [edit] External links