Soul Flower Union

File:Soul Flower Union HighTide&MoonlightBash.jpg

The 1999 live album High Tide & Moonlight Bash

Soul Flower Union is a Japanese musical group that have been together for ten years now, incorporating Asian styles into a rock and roll band. They are known for their blend of psychedelic, rock, and Japanese street music. All of their songs are written and performed in Japanese.

History

Beginning

Soul Flower Union, also known as SFU, was formed in 1993 in Osaka. Two members from two different punk bands, Mescaline Drive and Newest Model, joined together to form Soul Flower Union. Takashi Nakagawa was from the group Newest Model and brought the "punk" to the group. From Mescaline Drive was Hideko Itami who brought the glam rock to the Soul Flower Union.

Events

SFU have played in front of numerous crowds, with as many as 60,000 people. After the Kobe earthquake in 1995 the group began to play in the streets of the city in order to cheer people up with their music and played about 50 or 60 times during this event. Because they were in the streets they were forced to go "unplugged" and play acoustic versions of their songs, The drums were exchanged for the Korean changgo drum and they also used clarinets, chindon drums, and the accordion as well as putting Okinawan sanshins in place of the electric guitars. This acoustic unit was named Soul Flower Mononoke Summit and is still active as a side project of SFU.

During this time the song 'Mangetsu no Yube' was written (and co-written by Hiroshi Yamaguchi of the group Heatwave) for the victims of the earthquake. Since the earthquake the group has been a huge hit at summer festivals around the area they also founded a charity fund, The Soul Flower Earthquake Fund in order to help with the elderly and handicap victims of the earthquake.

Influences

Tradition plays a key role in the music of Soul Flower Union. When America won the war many people looked to America's democracy, and turned away from their own tradition. Many don't realize the traditional music from Japan, but the group is trying to bring that back to the people with a new style, which sets them apart from the other bands. They claim their influences are from the people of the Japanese Islands and the Okinawan Islands as well as many other cultures.

Members

There are seven official members of Soul Flower Union, although they often have regular guests which help them perform on tours. Nakagawa Takashi is the leader of the group who does vocals, guitar, and sanshin. Hidebou and Kawamura Hiroshi are also on guitars. Okuno Shinya is on keyboards. While Kohki plays the drums for the band and Jigen plays the bass. They have collaborated with and been produced by Dónal Lunny who currently is married to a member of the band. Dónal is an Irish trad/folk bazouki player. He has helped strengthen the band's focus on traditional Okinawan music.

Discography

The group has produced a total of nine original albums as well as one live album and three best compilation albums. Sony produced their first 2 albums but when their third album came around Sony refused to produce it because of controversial lyric content criticizing the Japanese government for its response to the earthquake.

Soul Flower Mononoke Summit released three albums.

• Watatsumi Yamatsumi (1994)
• Electro Agyl-Bop (1996)
• Ghost Hits 93-96 (1996)
• Asyll Ching Dong (1999) — as Soul Flower Mononoke Summit
• High Tide & Moonlight Bash (1999)
• Levelers Ching Dong (1999) — as Soul Flower Mononoke Summit
• Winds Fairground (1999)
• Ghost Hits 95-99 (2001)
• Screwball Comedy (2001)
• Love ± Zero (2002)
• Shalom! Salaam! (2003)
• All Quiet on the Far Eastern Front!? (2004)
• Lorosae Mon Amor (2005)
• Deracine Ching Dong (2006) — as Soul Flower Mononoke Summit

External links

• SOUL FLOWER UNION discography at MusicBrainz