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Music
scenes from different countries and cultures all have their fair share of
brilliant artists, which will never reach North American shores because of
language barriers and marketing capital. If great music will not come to
you, you must go to great music; the world is shrinking and we must take
advantage of it. One of such music scenes and one of the most underrated,
in my opinion, rests in the land of the rising sun.
Project J has but three goals: To help the unfamiliar discover new talents by pointing out a few bands that I find remarkable; to provide useful information to fans of any of the profiled bands; and to introduce these fans to other artists they might like. I am hoping to spark interest in some of today's and yesterday’s most underestimated musicians and perhaps even raise one’s standards in the musical sphere. Taste in music is a delicate issue and I do understand that my view of music is simply one out of a few billions. Still, I have a gut feeling these artists have something special and a few of my notions in music have an almost universal appeal. Besides, based on the countless positive comments I hear about J-Pop these days, I cannot be completely crazy. Keep in mind everything on this site is but my humble opinion and only serves as a guide for anyone with an open mind.
Sakmoto Kyu sadly died a few years later in history’s worst single-airplane catastrophe. The fact that radio stations renamed the song to Sukiyaki to make it easier for them to pronounce and that this song along with Kiss In The Dark from Pink Clippings are the only two to ever reach the famous billboards shows there is still a long road ahead.
I personally see vocals as just another instrument conveying emotions through sounds. Not denying that words facilitate this transmission, a good singer will have as much emotion in his voice than he does in his words. The internet also facilitates access to translations of most lyrics to help understand and appreciate these songs even better. With many of today’s English-speaking performers more concerned about making their lyrics rhyme and appealing to the masses than expressing how they feel, here’s to the new wave of artists who will hopefully make their voices heard on the entire planet. |
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About Benoit
Born French-Canadian a couple of decades ago, Benoit self-taught himself English by playing Monkey Island™ games and reading bilingual iced tea cans. His life turned upside down the day he discovered Japanese animation, opening his eyes, ears and mind to different cultures and their intrinsic worth. He quickly put both his skills and obsession to the test by becoming a professor at the Anime Academy, in which brewed his passion for Japanese music and the idea of creating an English J-Pop site to complement his anime reviews and appropriately express his feelings on the matter.
He officially launched Project J on October 14, 2002, juggling his time between anime, J-Pop and sometimes school, where he was studying industrial electronics. He is now a Software Quality Insurance technician at Tyco Fire and Security. He loves getting emails with constructive feedback on his site or simply to chitchat about Japanese music, something he is not able to do often.
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About Irina
Irina was born in beautiful, sunny Siberia. She moved to beautiful, sunny Canada in the late eighties. Her interest in Asian culture began when she was only 3 years old eating every Ramen noodle bowl she could find. While the noodles still hold a dear place in her heart, movies, music and videogames were added to the mix. She met a dashing young man a few years ago and after seeing his spiffy website, decided to stay with him for a while.
Irina is currently a spoonlift operator by day and a crime-fighter also by day (she sleeps at night, you know). She is watching a many international movies to perhaps one day open a Project J branch dedicated to that other, somewhat popular, media, having been seduces by classics such as Survive Style 5+ and Mind Game. In the mean time, she does all the dirty work for the site including laundering of money and clothes...
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Most people have an extensive list of songs that they love for many
different reasons. They can express feelings you empathize with, make you
feel better or simply make your feet move. Taking in consideration that
any given individual has only heard a tiny fraction of what music has to
offer, songs and artists we would have fallen in love with come and go
every day without our knowledge. 
This site is a reverence to Japanese artists who, I feel, do not receive the recognition they deserve amongst the English-speaking community because of
prejudice and lack of exposure. I am not trying to impose my personal tastes on anyone since I am well aware we each have different interpretations of this abstract art form but as you read more about my quality control system and hear some of my
favourite artists’ songs, you should find out soon enough if the world of
J-Pop is right for you.
Since it offers as much, if not more variety than any other culture in terms of music, I am quite sure
everyone can find their match in the sea of talented Japanese artists.
The
world got its first taste of Japanese music in 1963 when Sakamoto
Kyu unleashed Ue o Muite Aruko, which was the first, only and
hopefully not last Japanese song to have reached #1 on American
Billboards, spending no less than three weeks at this much coveted
position. The music was written by Hachidai Nakamura, the lyrics by
Rokusuke Ei and Kyu’s voice rendered the whole with
aplomb and managed to transmit emotions without words the majority of
people could comprehend.