SOUL FLOWER UNION
SOUL FLOWER MONONOKE SUMMIT
SOUL-CIALIST ESCAPE

 

TAKASHI NAKAGAWA INTERVIEW, FOLK ROOTS

The visits of Donal Lunny and band to Japan, have been as much memorable for his own wonderful band, as for some collaborations with Japanese musicians. In 1996, with his group that was originally assembled for the Japan concerts, he played with Kodo, the spectacular drummers group on Sado island. Last year, as well as Kodo again, the Donal Lunny Band was also joined by a few members of Japan's hottest rock roots band, Soul Flower Union. ( the acoustic version of which, Soul Flower Mononoke Summit, were featured in Folk Roots No. 160.

While in Japan, Donal took his band into a Tokyo studio to record with Soul Flower's leader, Takashi Nakagawa, a session I was fortunate enough to witness. These sessions would be used for Nakagawa's solo project, later to be titled Soul-cialist Escape. However, as the tapes rolled on, so did the time, and they ended up recording only 3 of the 4 songs intended. Thus Nakagawa, and two other Union members went to Real World Studios in England where Lunny was making his new album, to record one more song, and mix all four.

Back in Tokyo, a jet-lagged Nakagawa (he had only just got back to Japan that morning) spoke of the trip, and the forthcoming album. "We recorded Mangetsu no Yube, and Donal was just great,he had a real feeling for the song." enthused Nakagawa. Mangetsu no Yube is one of the best songs to emerge from Japan in the last 20 years or so. It was co-written with Hiroshi Yamaguchi of Heat Wave (who played live with Donal and band in Tokyo) for the victims of the Kobe earthquake. This tragedy also led to the formation of Mononoke Summit, as his until then electric band, were forced to go unplugged to perform in Kobe at that time. Mangetsu no Yube, and other songs manage to maintain a strong Japanese flavour, while at the same time containing Irish elements in an uncontrived way. The fruits of the Nakagawa /Lunny recordings have just been released in Japan, the full title: "Original Notion (sic) Picture Soundtrack: Soul-cialist Escape in Lost Homeland."

"I felt like I wanted to do something by myself, without Soul Flower, and go away from Japan and record with other musicians " explained Nakagawa "I've always liked Irish music, but more like the Pogues or Van Morrison, not really traditional music. I didn't even know who Donal Lunny was, but when I met him I got a good feeling, we seemed to like the same things.It was also great going to Real World studio. I never met Peter Gabriel, though I saw him playing table tennis quite often!"

Meanwhile, Soul Flower Mononoke Summit, have recently released their second CD "Levelers Ching Dong". Like the first one, it's a live recording released on their own label. Their usual record company, Sony had refused to release the first one, due to a controversial lyrical content. Was it the same with this one? "Probably, but I think they would also have objected to the music" said Nakagawa.
Most of the songs on Levelers Ching Dong date back 70 or 80 years. "They were mostly hits at the time, and some of them are still well known now." said Nakagawa. He again raises controversial issues such as discrimination against Japan's so-called 'Untouchables'. "The song Kakumeika is one of Japan's oldest revolutionary songs, people think that this kind of discrimination doesn't exist anymore in Japan, but it still does." Also included is Arirang one of Korea's best known traditional songs. Nakagawa is particularly interested in Korean culture and last year undertook a trip to North Korea."We went on the Peace Boat, from Nigata to Wonsan and then to Pyongyang. It was quite an experience, we weren't really allowed to see ordinary life in the countryside, but we went to a department store and everyone was surprised at how we looked. The North Koreans were really nice people.The music also shares similarities, and people danced the same way as they did in Kobe."

Nakagawa is almost alone in being essentially a rock musician, but also interested in Japanese old and traditional music. "Young people aren't generally interested in traditional music, but gradually hopefully they will be. Everyone has that tradition inside them, just like they do in Okinawa or in Ireland. But tradition conveys the image of the emperor, also because America won the war, we all looked to America and thought how fantastic democracy was, and rejected our own tradition. The method for teaching traditional music is so boring, there's no room for creativity. I don't like the really decorated voices of traditional music, I just sing from the heart". Nakagawa doesn't want to follow any trends, and would like to compare himself in the future to Billy Bragg, Tom Waits or Lou Reed. He also wants to take Soul Flower Mononoke Summit to play concerts in Europe sometime, to introduce Japanese traditional music, and meet different people. "We went to Ireland as well, when we told people we played traditional music they were so interested, they just didn't think of Japan as having any traditional music".

 

JAPAN TIMES. NOVEMBER 28th 1998

Those who went to see the Donal Lunny Band concerts last year, or some of the Altan Festival earlier this year, may have stumbled upon a rather strange looking Japanese rock band who appeared with both groups. That band was Osaka's Soul Flower Union. Soul Flower Union are known for their rather wacky blend of rock, psychedelic and 'chindon', a Japanese brass band street music. Not the sort of music that would naturally fit with Irish traditional music maybe, but with the live collaborations working so well, and a bond formed during late night drinking sessions, SFU took the opportunity to record with their latest Celtic visitors back in May. The resulting album " Winds Fairground" won't be out until February, but until then, there's a single"Each Little Thing" and a Soul Flower tour to showcase the new material.

Soul Flower Union's leader Takashi Nakagawa's first foray into Irish music was his solo album, Soul-Cialist Escape, produced by Donal Lunny and released earlier this year. This time around the main partners are Ireland's leading traditional group Altan. "There was really no particular reason why I recorded with Altan, except they're friends and like drinking" said Nakagawa, tongue in cheek. "Actually I wanted their unison type instrumentation, especially Maighread's (Ni Mhaonaigh, a fiddle player and vocalist) bright sound. " I wondered if the fact that Altan are such a traditional group was slightly restrictive? "Yes, in fact when we started I didn't know what kind of songs we could do together, because they can't play rock."Å@"Each Little Thing" was written by Irish guitarist Steve Cooney, and was originally an instrumental performed by accordion player Sharon Shannon. "Hideko Itami put words to the melody, about missing your hometown, and afterwards we got a fax from Steve Cooney, saying he had a similar theme in mind. The music has some Korean influences in there as well I think, so it was an interesting mixture."

Much of the album was once again produced by Donal Lunny, and included some of his band members as well as Altan, as on the title track "Winds Fairground", an original Nakagawa song. "The demo of that song was more like trad punk, but Donal didn't want to produce something like the Pogues, so it became somewhat more 'adult'.There are so many Irish players on this album, but only four of us in Soul Flower, so the Irish taste is very strong."

Also featured are Kila, one of Ireland's best up and coming bands. "Kila were brilliant, they're quite young and their mixture of rock, psychedelic and traditional is quite similar to ours, so that worked really well. There are a couple of chindon tracks as well. I'm always trying out new kinds of music, but it's very difficult to encompass everything on one album."

In a previous interview Nakagawa had told me he was fed up with Western music, and wanted to make a new "Asian" music. Had he changed his mind? "No not really, but I love working with Donal, he's not really a 'Western' musician, more of an 'internationalist'.

Soul Flower Union are one of Japan's most entertaining live acts. No guest musicians will be coming from Ireland for the live shows, so Nakagawa promises the live versions of the songs will be more 'rock n roll' than the recorded ones.

SOUL FLOWER UNION-

LIVE ALBUM- HIGH TIDE & MOONLIGHT BASH

While the Japanese music scene may have been through it's ups and downs through the 90s, Takashi Nakagawa of Soul Flower Union and it's various offshoots, have probably been Japan's most consistent and intriguing performers.

The group were originally formed in Osaka in 1993 out of two groups. Newest Model, close to a punk or mod band and fronted by Nakagawa, and Mescaline Drive, which featured female guitarist Hideko Itami, and was influenced by glam rock. Soul Flower Union's music became a somewhat wacky blend of rock and psychedelic music, but from their first album 'Kamuy Ipirma' included extraneous elements, such as Ainu music (indegenous Japanese) that would help set them apart. Their development musically has been intrinsically linked to their own social consciences, such as a desire to highlight the plight of the Ainu, a rare virtue in Japan.

In the aftermath of the Kobe earthquake in 1995 the group took to the streets of Kobe to 'cheer up' the victims, playing around 50 or 60 times. Forced to go 'unplugged' with the absense of electricity, the group swapped their electric guitars for Okinawan sanshin, Korean changgo drum, clarinet, accordeon and the chindon drum, these instruments being incorporated later into Soul Flower Union. At this time, Nakagawa, also co-wrote with Hiroshi Yamaguchi of Heatwave, the song 'Mangetsu no Yube' for the victims of the earthquake and one of the truly exceptional Japanese songs of the 90s. Forays into Irish music followed with collaborations, firstly with the Donal Lunny Band on Nakagawa's solo project ' Soul-cialist Escape' and on Soul Flower Union's most recent album 'Winds Fairground' once again with Lunny, but mainly top Irish traditional group Altan.

This album contains songs from their earliest, and even pre-Soul Flower days, through to the latest material. Whatever the instrumentation, Soul Flower Union's music retains a distinctive feel, never compromising their music to accomodate their guests and never copying or emulating Western music. Due in part to their their strong melodies they have always retained a strong Japanese feel. Perhaps Soul Flower Union have come closest to creating Japan's very own rock sound, or even modern folk music, in it's literal sense- music for the ordinary people.