Kazufumi Miyazawa has been called the Japanese David Byrne, Paul Simon and Peter Gabriel rolled into one. On this Best of album, Miyazawa combines Brazilian music with Japanese and other Oriental influences, a version of his million selling Okinawan song Shima Uta plus western and dance oriented sounds. All with the help of a stellar cast of collaborators from around the world, including producers, Arto Lindsay and Hugh Padgham, musicians, Carlinhos Brown, Marcos Suzano, Max de Castro, Lenine, Takashi Hirayasu, Manu Katche and Dominic Miller with dancefloor remixes by Truby Trio and Monaural.
From Kofu, about seventy miles west of Tokyo, Miyazawa formed the Boom at the end of the 80s with school friends. Every Sunday, the group would head to so-called ‘Din Alley’, in fashionable Harajuku. The Boom latched onto post-punk; the Police, Two-Tone, early U2. Most bands never made it out of the street, but the Boom progressed to live clubs in the city and a major record deal. They made a couple of albums of ska inspired rock albums, soon gaining a large cult following. Then in 1993 came the Okinawan influenced single Shima Uta, (island songs) which went on to sell over a million and a half copies, popularizing Japan’s most exciting roots music and winning the Japanese equivalent of a Grammy that year.
Over the following years, Miyazawa expanded his horizons, travelling to and absorbing music from Indonesia, Jamaica, Cuba and particularly Brazil. Aware not to turn the Boom into his solo project and to preserve the group’s separate identity, Miyazawa decided to divide his creativity between the Boom and a solo career. In 1998 he released two solo albums, the first Sixteenth Moon was recorded in London with producer Hugh Padgham (Sting, Genesis) and also featured some of Sting's regular musicians Manu Katche on drums (also Peter Gabriel, Youssou N'Dour) and Dominic Miller (Sting) on guitar. The following Afrosick was recorded in Salvador and Rio de Janeiro, with some of the leading lights of Brazilian music including, Carlinhos Brown, Marcos Suzano and Lenine.
For his next album Deeper Than Oceans Miyazawa enlisted the help of producer and musician Arto Lindsay. This album was a culmination of Miyazawa’s global influences, especially Brazil, merging with the Western music he grew up with, recent dance trends, and the nearest roots music to home that he came to love, Okinawa.
The album was recorded at various locations around the world with a supporting cast of over forty musicians roughly divided between Brazilian and Japanese. Some of the Brazilian musicians who have previously worked with Arto Lindsay, include Moreno Veloso, while from Okinawa, the guests are Yoriko Ganeko and Takashi Hirayasu.
Aside to pursuing his musical career with the Boom and as a solo artist, the workaholic Miyazawa has been much in demand as a songwriter for other Japanese artists. On his fourth solo album Spiritek, he chose eleven songs he had originally written for other artists, to record himself. This CD contains three tracks from Spiritek.
Compiled specifically for overseas release, Tokyo Story introduces the work of one of Japan's most remarkable musicians of the last fifteen years. He is one of the greatest songwriters of his generation with his own set of unique influences, producing music with a distinctive Miyazawa stamp of quality.
1. Tokyo Story (Final Groove Edition)
from 'Miyazawa Sick'
2. Waishoh na Wakusei (The Dwarfish Planet)
from 'Afrosick'
3. Nampasen (A Wrecked Ship)
from 'Afrosick'
4. Snow in Uchinah
from 'Miyazawa'
5. 2 Continents
from 'Spiritek'
6. Capitã de Areia
from 'Miyazawa'
7. Piano
from 'Spiritek'
8. A Tango for Guevara and Evita (Trüby Trio Treatment)
from 'Miyazawa' and 'Deeper than Oceans'
9. Seven Days, Seven Nights
from 'Sixteenth Moon'
10. My Heart, My Soul, My Fear
from 'Sixteenth Moon'
11. Illusion (From Farther than Anybody Else)
from 'Afrosick'
12. Dareyorimo Tohku kara
from 'Spiritek'
13. Canción de la Isla (Shima Uta)
from 'Miyazawa Sick'
14. Chimuguri Utasha (monoaural mix)
from 'Miyazawa' and 'Deeper than Oceans'
15. Hyang Ju
from 'Sixteenth Moon'
