Hawaii Champroo

Description

REISSUE OF THE 1975 ALBUM BY THE PIONEER OF THE JAPANESE TROPICALIST MOVEMENT. CO-PRODUCED BY HARUOMI HASONO (YMO). Hawaii Champroo is the first release in an ambitious reissue program of the three albums by Makoto Kubota, one of the mainstays of the Japanese music scene. After playing with the legendary band Les Rallizes Dénudés in the early 70s, he developed a unique sound mixing his music with American and tropical influences. Recorded in 1975 at the famous Sounds of Hawaii studio in Honolulu and co-produced by Haruomi Hosono, Hawaii Champroo marks the beginning of Makoto Kubota's experiments with the music of Hawaii and Okinawa (Champroo is a word derived from Chanpuru, the traditional Okinawan stir-fry dish). The album, a cousin of Hosono's Tropical Dandy and Bon Voyage Co albums (on which Kubota plays), is one of the precursors of a Japanese tropicalist musical movement born in Japan in the 70s. The core of the Sunset Gang consists of Makoto Kubota on guitar, Takashi Onzo on bass, Yosuke Fujita on guitars and mandolin, Keni Inoue on lead guitar, and Hiroki Komazawa on pedal steel guitar. They are accompanied on the album by Haruomi Hosono on drums and Teriyuki Kokubu on piano. From his stay in the United States in the early 70s, Makoto Kubota brought back many musical influences: blues, soul, R&B, New Orleans rhythms. The album also features a few carefully selected covers: Jesse Fuller's "San Francisco Blues," The Rooftop Singers' "Walk Right In" (an old Gus Cannon ragtime), or the classic "Steel Guitar" by the Texas Playboys Chiffon. Hawaii Champroo also includes several original compositions such as the funky "Shanghai Gaeri" and a nod to the Hawaiian Hula dance with the track "Moonlight Hula." One of the key tracks on the album is "Haisai Ozisan," the cult Okinawan track created in 1972 by Shoukichi Kina and which has become a real standard in Japan. The album Hawaii Champroo is a timeless classic and one of the most important Japanese albums of the 70s that Wewantsounds is happy to release outside of Japan for the first time. The album was recently remastered by Makoto Kubota and is released with the original artwork, an obi, and the original Japanese booklet.