Some of you will remember this local folk band from their rousing performance at the "Voices for Umekoji" event last month. The vocalist Udonya Mentei (Yamahara-san), has renamed his band U.S.B. - Udonya Super Band, and under this name they performed at the legendary live house Jittoku last Sunday. As usual it was a fine performance and I managed to capture a little bit of it … [Read more...]
“Children of Water” & Morphic Jukebox @ Jittoku
Last Friday I attended the Kyoto premiere of Roger Walch's new movie "Children of Water" at Jittoku. The venue was a legendary live house in Kyoto (Japan's oldest in fact) that has been open since 1973. Like the equally famous TakuTaku the building is a converted saka-gura - a kind of traditional sake warehouse. This was my first time to visit this fine old venue. Folk … [Read more...]
Folk Music Workshop @ Irish Pub Gnome
Last weekend's traditional music workshop at Gnome was a great success and so it looks like there will be many more in the future. Felicity Greenland writes: Japanese and foreigners all singing together in a cool atmosphere... It's hard to explain without sounding crass, but really, it's a very special bonding thing to sing together - everyone has had hard times with … [Read more...]
Donal Lunny @ TakuTaku
I'm back online at home and so the comments are back on as well. I'll be adding more locations soon but until then here's a video of Donal Lunny and The Flying Dugong Band at TakuTaku last night. I filmed a few songs but I think this one is the nicest. Thanks due to Mewby for pointing out the info about this show to me when we were in Field a couple of weeks … [Read more...]
Zac Baran
I first met Yoshida Koichi in the music bar Hawkwind. A shakuhachi player, he told me he plays in many styles, not just traditional, but jazz, folk, avant garde, new age, pretty much anything. In Hawkwind we were listening to some hip-hop. "How about this then?" I challenged him with a grin. And do you know, he stood up immediately, he played, and it was wonderful. I was very … [Read more...]
Mentei
This noodle shop by MotoTanaka station does some very nice homemade udon noodles. The owner (pictured a short ways below), is known to all his friends as Yama-chan, or by his customers simply as "Master". I can't remember what his real name is. He's a very nice chap. I first met him in music bar Hawkwind one night, and when he told me he owned the nearby noodle shop I said "Oh! … [Read more...]
Honyarado
ほんやら洞 (Honyarado) is a famous café on Imadegawa, that has been supplying coffee and cheap meals to nearby Doshisha University students for over thirty years. The owner, Kai Fusayoshi, is a very productive professional photographer and his prints and posters decorate the walls of the shop. Check out some of the books of his work littering the place. In black and white and with … [Read more...]
