Tag: Rimi Natsukawa

I wouldn’t imagine in a light year that I would enjoy listening to Japanese folk music.  Rimi Natsukawa’s previous album “Self Selection” has been like a comfort album to me.  So when I saw her 13th album “ココロノウタ” selling on the shelf, I quickly grabbed one without even test listening to it.

“ココロノウタ” comes with 3 discs.  A 8-track studio album, a 9-track live recording of her December 2008 concert held in Taiwan, and a DVD of that concert (12 tracks).  I’ve watched that DVD.  Even with zero knowledge in Japanese, she connects to me – with her expression, her tone, and her gesture.  Rimi can sing live really well and she plays the instrument too.  I don’t even know what that guitar-like instrument called.  It looks fretless and it looks difficult to play.  Most tracks are slow to moderately paced.  Towards the end of the concert, she picked up the pace with lots of colorful music arrangements.  It is a pleasant surprise and I can understand why some of these live tracks are not present in the CD recording.  They work better with the visual impact.

The songs from the new studio recording is just as pleasant as her previous productions.  Lyrically – judging from the Chinese translation – is poetically beautiful.  Beyond the visual images of the light and the blue sky, the wind and the hills, the moon and the darkness are a set of songs about yearning, about love and life and the embrace of a loving mother.

Click here if you wish to sample the album.  Below is one of the live recordings (not from this album collection) if you are curious about how Rimi’s music sounds like.  From the Chinese translation, the album title “ココロノウタ” means “Songs from the Heart and Soul”.

There is comfort food.  And there is comfort music too, I reckon.  You know how it is like when every time you listen to a particular song or album and that triggers a particular memory of yours?  Maybe “Last Christmas” was played when you gave your first kiss away, maybe “I Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing” is your theme song with that special someone, or maybe you were listening to “Woman In Chains” when you first discover what romance is.

So I was on a plane to Chennai, India – which by the way, if you haven’t got the chance to check out the complete 2-set photo albums, I invite you to take a look (montage below).  For lack of entertainment choices on the SIA flights, I put Rimi Natsukawa’s new album on repeat – on my way to Chennai, and back.  I did sample “Self Selection” (あいのうた ～セルフセレクション・ベスト～) in several occasions at HMV Orchard but somehow, the album didn’t talk to me.  My first (and second and third) impression was that the sound is kind of old fashioned, kind of different from the rest of the J-pop I am so used to.  Needless to say, after the trip, I bought her album.

In fact, the kind of music is called Ryukyuan and Rimi Natsukawa is a folk singer.  Is it an universal truth that folk genre produces better singers than pop and rock?  And when did the Japanese start to have songs in English titles and lyrics with English words?  Either way, Rimi Natsukawa is a great singer and all the songs she selected is 100% Japanese.  Inside the album jacket, she wrote a small passage for each song explaining why she chose it, when she played it, and what the song means to her (note: I read the Chinese translation).

Is “Self Reflection” for you?  Hard to say.  Are you open for traditional Japanese music?  Maybe you wish to check out this old video of hers and see for yourself.  涙そうそう (“Sparkling Tears”) is my favorite track of the album.  Sure it doesn’t have the dynamic of a typical pop song.  It does however invoke emotion, a peaceful type of emotion.  And to me, it works.  This album works.