TAKASHI HIRAYASU

Japan's most vibrant music scene exists down in Okinawa, the sub-tropical islands that lie in the middle of the East China Sea. Although part of Japan, Okinawa's exotic and colourful music is a unique mixture of sounds and rhythms brought to the islands by its Asian neighbours down the centuries. Only here is music still a part of everyday life, where all people sing and dance purely for the fun of it. Takashi Hirayasu is one of Okinawa's most successful artists, and one of many pioneering artists who are helping to bring these fresh and exciting sounds to the world at large.

Hirayasu started out by playing blues, R&B and rock at bars and clubs surrounding the American military bases on Okinawa island. He discovered an interest in Okinawan shima-uta (island songs) in his early 20s, and started to play the sanshin, the Okinawan three-stringed snakeskin banjo.
He went on to join Shoukichi Kina and his family-based group Champloose as guitarist and arranger. They were the first musicians to mix traditional Okinawan sounds with rock on their first album in 1977, and were later joined by Ry Cooder on the 1980 album Bloodline. As a member of Kina's band, Hirayasu provided the dynamic rock element that defined the sound of Shokichi Kina and Champloose at their prime, and helped to turn the group into a legend. Hirayasu's pioneering work, combining shima-uta (the local music of Okinawa) and rock, helped to influence a new generation of Japanese rock musicians, among them Japan's most exciting roots band, Soul Flower Union.

During the 1990's Hirayasu began to concentrate on his solo career and released his first solo album, Kariyusu No Tsukl, which brought together all the musical elements of his life in Okinawa. The result was album with an eclectic assortment of styles and sounds, honed together by an accessible and fresh production. He was joined on this album by Takashi Nakagawa and Hiroshi Kawamura of Soul Flower Union, and together they performed a cover of Soul Flower Union's now classic song, `Mangetsu No Yube'.

The recording sessions for tin tin, on Taketomi, the smallest of the Okinawan islands, marked the beginning of a fruitful relationship between Hirayasu and Hawaiian slide guitar genius Bob Brozman. Since the release and acclaimed reaction to .7ln tin, they have subsequently toured in Japan, Europe, North America and played at the WOMAD festival in the UK. Wherever they perform, the fun, spontaneity and pure joy they clearly derive from each other communicates to the audience. They both exude an aura of sensitivity, dynamism and charisma, mixed with a refreshing humbleness. So rewarding was this first collaboration that Takashi and Brozman have recorded together again, to produce their second album Nankuru Nalsa. Recorded this time in Brozman's Santa Cruz house, they wisely decided that rather than trying to recreate the moment of the first recording session in Okinawa, they would produce a new and different magic. To be released in Spring 2001.

BoB BROZMAN

Bob Brozman was born in New York in 1954 and has been involved in music since early childhood. A guitarist since the age of 6, Bob discovered National guitars aged 14. In their unique sound, the young Bob found his musical calling. He studied music and ethnomusicology at Washington University with an emphasis on the earliest roots of Delta blues. He has since also become a respected authority on historical Hawaiian music, publishing articles and amassing a large collection of 78rpm records. He has produced five re-issue albums from this collection, documenting the best of Hawaiian music from 1915 to 1935, on the Rounder and Folklyric labels.

In 1988 Bob rediscovered the legendary 1929 Hawaiian recording artists The Tau Moe Family. Together they recorded a landmark album, an historic re-creation of the family's genuine Hawaiian music from 60 years ago. The album was released in 1989 to rave international reviews, including the Library of Congress Select List Award. With NEA funding, Bob is now completing production of a feature-length documentary film about the Moe family and their amazing 54-year-long world tour.
Over the years Bob's passion for National guitars led him to build a large collection of these fascinating artdeco era instruments. After receiving a letter from the then-88-year-old inventor John Dopyera, Bob visited, and became good friends with, John and his family. This led to further research, and in 1993 Bob's massive work, The Hlstory And Artistry Of National Resonator Instruments was published internationally. He has also written for several music magazines concerning historical and instructional subjects.
Bob's deep knowledge of musical history and arranging has enabled him to create big-band arrangements and direct music for stage, radio programs, film soundtracks and nine albums.

Live performance tours have been Bob's main activity for the last 20 years. He has toured constantly through the US, Canada and Europe. He has been most active in Europe during the last three years and now records for Virgin Records in Europe. Wherever he has played from concert halls, festivals, theatres, and universities, and on radio and television, audiences have come away surprised and happy.
Bob describes his work this way: `I use metal objects to disturb air molecules in an organised manner. These molecules strike against the listener's eardrums, generating a small electrical signal to the brain. The brain responds by squeezing out a few chemicals. The listener feels this as pleasure - IT'S A GOOD JOB!'

The Story Of The National Metal Instruments - The National line of metal-bodied resonator instruments are the most uniquely American ever made, representing America's cultural melting pot, as well as the transition from acoustic to electric guitars. Invented by Slovakian immigrants John Dopyera and his brothers, and made in Los Angeles from 1926 to 1939, these loud, shiny instruments were built to satisfy the need for a louder guitar for jazz bands and recording. They were intended for use by Hawaiians and white dance orchestra guitarists, but wound up in the hands of black blues players, white hillbilly performers, jazz and various ethnic guitarists. National made nickel silver Hawaiian guitars, mandolins, tenor guitars, and even the now-rare ukulele! Their design shows a strong Art Deco influence, very modernistic, and a true blending of art and industry. Nationals were eventually made obsolete by electric instruments in America's headlong rush towards modernism. These instruments have a much wider dynamic range than either electric or conventional wooden acoustic guitars, with a profound tone that is unique among instruments.

DISCOGRAPHY

1974 - Your Pa/(Bootleg)
1978 - Cheap sult Serenaders Number 3(Yazoo/Shanachie)
1981 - Blue Hula Stomp (Kicking Mule/Virgin France)
1983 - Snapping The Strings(Kicking Mule/Virgin France)
1985 - Hello, Central... Give Me Or. .Iazz(Rounder/Virgin France)
1988 - Devils Slide (Rounder/Virgin France)
1989 - Tail Moe Family W/Bob (Rounder/Virgin France)
1992 - Everybody Slides(compilation) (Virgin France/Ryodisc)
1993 - Slide Crazy (compilation) (Virgin France/Rykodisc)
1994 - Slide A Go Go (Virgin France)
1996 - Blues Round The Bend (Virgin France)
1997 - Kika Kila Meets Kihoaluw/ Led Kaapana (Dancing Cat/BMG)
1997 - Golden Slide (double CD) (Virgin France)
1998 - Sunrise w/ Debashsish Bhattacharya (Sagarika Acoustronics, India)
1999 - Four Hands ... w/ Cyric Pahinui (Dancing Cat/BMG)
1999 - The Running Man (special limited edition)
1999 - Warabl Uta w/ Takashi Hirayasu (Respect Records, Japan) released in Japan only
1999 - Duet Projectw/ Woody Mann (Acoustic Music, Germany)
1999 - Tone Poems 3wl David Grisman & Mike Auldridge (Acoustic Disc, US)
2000 - Bob & Ledward Vol 2., In The Saddle (Dancing Cat/BMG)
2000 - Islands (& other imaginary paradises)
2000 - Jin Jin (formerly Warabi Uta) w/ Takashi Hirayasu (Riverboat Records) rest of
world
2000 - Ocean Blues w/ Djeli Moussa Jawara (Melodie)
2001 - Nankuru Naisa w/ Takashi Hirayasu (Riverboat Records)

PRESS QUOTES

"The playing is dazzling, the dexterity and complexity is without parallel in this genre... every piece is packed with a compelling, humorous quality... It's what he does with his damn hands that had the audience in hysterics!"
Folk Roots U K

 

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