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Losing one's self in
the music, it is easy to miss all the subtleties in the Skapara
(for short) sound. I mean, harmonizing around ten instruments with no
conductor is a tricky task and requires every member of a group to be
on the exact same wavelength. The line between harmony and cacophony is
very thin, yet being proficient musicians who most likely learned to play
before taking their first steps, it appears very easy, based on the
results.
They don't strictly limit themselves to playing either covers or original compositions but do whatever is necessary to get the crowd moving. You have not heard the Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra until you hear them play live; there is something about thousands of raving fans cheering in the background that makes their songs even more energetic. A band does not stay popular for almost twenty years without a large pool of talent and loving music in every sense of the word. Fans also lose interest quickly at any sign of recurrence.Without changing their style to please new and different audiences, they have kept finding new ways of reinventing horns and percussions to the joy of their followers.
Their first official album came five years after Skapara’s creation. Skapara Toujou (Skapara has come!) was released in 1990, followed by World Famous and Pioneers in 1993. By then they were already "world famous" and did many concerts outside Japan, notably Australia and Thailand, which sprouted live albums. They have been concentrating on the local scene a bit more in their recent works but their international recognition is still growing as more and more people, including myself, are spotting the tip of this iceberg.
The
days of TSPO constantly releasing records or
songs as featured guests are behind us, yet this aging
band still comes up with new stuff every now and then.
Their last album, High Numbers, dates back to
March 2003, but they performed a song rather recently
named A Quick Drunkard, which was used as theme for a
television drama called OL Sendou. The single it spawned
in June 2003 contains four songs including High
Numbers' Rendezvous In Space. |
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Skapara Toujou
Their first album includes a majority of authentic pieces. I love their covers just as much as the next guy but when it comes down to it, I still favour a fresh sound. To get your hands on most of their famous songs and catch the elusive Pedora-zu live version, I also recommend Moods for Tokyo Ska, We Don't Know What Ska Is!, their first "best-of" album. |
Doesn't this
song just make you want to get up and dance? Not because it's catchy, as
it has the complex, multi-instrument arrangements Skapara is renown
for, but probably because of more subtle details like the drum and bass.
Special guest Yusuke Chiba, vocalist for Thee Michelle Gun Elephant,
gives a terrific performance in this song composed by Nargo. |
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Official Site: http://www.skapara.net/ (Tip: use AltaVista's Babel Fish translator) |
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I
can thank anime again for this one. It is the Tokyo Ska Paradise
Orchestra's ska-ified version of the theme song from the famous Lupin III
animations that finally made me discover a band that had been jazzing up
Japan for the past eighteen years. It is never too late to learn.
Formed
in 1985 by Asa-Chang (who withdrew in 1993) and some of
his high school friends, the Tokyo Ska Paradise
Orchestra has been growing in size and notoriety
from the
minute they stepped on a stage. Many members joined and
left but a few of them have been present and active
since Skapara's beginnings as an underground
band. Yuichi Oki, Gamo, Tsuyoshi Kawakami, Atsushi
Yanata and Tatsuyuki Hiyamuta are the Energizer™
bunnies that cement the foundations of this band.