I'm not really sure why I didn't notice before, but MONGOL800 do a cover of the famous Nadasousou!
If you're curious, here is the original, sung by Rimi Natsukawa.
She is a famous Okinawan singer who I absolutely love. It is one of my many regrets not picking up one of her albums while I lived in Japan. If you're curious about her stuff, which is largely more traditional than Nadasousou, I went to the trouble of making you a short playlist of my favorites here.
This is MONGOL800's cover of the song, and as you can tell, they changed it pretty significantly.
Who are The Majestics that MONGOL800 are playing with? I have yet to find out. All I know is that I'm relatively sure it's not these guys.
Another song on ETC Works 2 is Hounen Ondo, which translates as the "Dance of a Fruitful Year". I haven't really gone over the lyrics to know whether dance is for having a fruitful year, or a fruitful year was just had. I like the idea of the latter more than the former, but that is not really here nor there.
I've been trying to figure out the history of the song, and so far, all I can really say is that it is a traditional Okinawan song. Google.jp has been supremely unhelpful, though it seems likely I'm just typing in the wrong keywords.
I've looked up some videos to show how the original song sounds, and this is by far the most professional and least grating, so enjoy!
It's interesting to me that the Monpachi version is so heavy and punkish. They seem to like taking Okinawan music and then almost completely divorce it from its traditional context, and then put punk song into a traditional Okinawan mold. This wasn't so evident in the first two albums. By Momo, however, they added one track as a hidden track that sounded more traditional. Then, in Daniel, they hinted lyrically. It's somewhat more evident in ETC Works musically, and then it disappears almost completely in eight-hundreds.
Honestly, I don't know what all of that means, though I'd like to think there is a narrative in there that can be found.
The website it's posted on, the Ryuukyuu Shimpo, is a good source for local Okinawan news if your Japanese isn't ready yet for Japanese newspapers (which mine certainly isn't).
Why did I have to move from England? This isn't really applicable to anyone, but for those interested in Okinawa culture, this looks amazing! I wish I could have gone!
Though, I have to admit, even if I still lived in England it would be pretty hard to get up the gumption to take the trip from Newcastle anyway. I don't even know why I'm complaining.
You can find the facebook page here, and the official page here.
For those who are going, I highly suggest you check out the music! You can really understand where some of Monpachi's musical roots are. Especially since they have been returning to traditional Ryuukyuu themes in their more recent albums.
For those who are interested in Okinawa, this is a great internet radio station. From what I can tell, it's all Okinawan music with local personalities.
So, this has very little to do with MONGOL800, but I'd thought I'd share it anyway. I do this mostly because MONGOL800 is very proud of its Okinawan roots, so I'd thought I give some insight into the culture while I'm working on translations.
I was researching how to do the Kachaashii (カチャーシー), and I found these great videos! I still don't know much about the dance, other than its danced at special events like victory celebrations and weddings.
Anyway, these three videos are very helpful to understanding the dance. I'm not going to translate the whole thing, needless to say (there are still lots of Monpachi songs to get to!) but, I'll point out the important bits so you can follow along and learn by mimicing.
FOR WOMEN:
The reporter confesses that even though she's from Okinawa, she doesn't now how to dance it! So, the teacher begins to show her by beginning with the feet. What's important about the dance is that there is a bounce in your step.
The next important part is that your hands most fall in to place at the end of the movement. When twisting your hands to go the other way, you must make your index finger and thumb form a circle and release as you sweep your hands the other way.
Here, the instructor demonstrates the different ways to incorporate your feet. There is nothing very specific about the pattern, and you can improvise between fast and slow steps all you want.
FOR MEN:
This is the men's version. Unlike the women's version, where palms are open, men must curl their hands into fists. They also have a more pronounced bounce in their dance steps. There really isn't more more to say other than WHY DO THEY GET IT EASIER?
