Ringo Shiina & Momo (from Charan-Po-Rantan) -- Hobo Mizu no Awa（ほぼ水の泡）

 

In the last few hours, my family was able to watch another perennial Japanese New Year's example of TV programming along with the Kohaku Utagassen. The Hakone Ekiden takes place over two days on January 2nd and 3rd, and although none of us have ever run a proper ekiden before, there's something rather quite relaxing about watching it play out on screen. It had always been shown on TV Japan and fortunately it's being run on Jme. For the record, Aoyama Gakuin University won again.

It's hard to believe that it's been over 25 years since one of the most terrifying yet attractive teenage rock singers ever hit the Japanese music industry in the form of Ringo Shiina（椎名林檎）. My first impression was that I would be most interested in attending a concert of hers but I would never approach her for an autograph, lest I get my face ripped off for being so plebian. But in the years since, we would all learn that it wasn't just punk and rock that she loved but also the genres of jazz and kayo kyoku, and a lot of times, Shiina brought all of those influences together into one album or even one song. And in recent years, she's even collaborated with other artists such as Ulfuls'（ウルフルズ）Tortoise Matsumoto（トータス松本）for "Menuki Dori"（目抜き通り）; that partnership had them performing on the 2017 edition of the Kohaku Utagassen.

And speaking of the Kohaku Utagassen, Shiina was once more at NHK Hall for the 2024 edition, this time partnering up with Momo of the eclectic sister act Charan-Po-Rantan（チャラン・ポ・ランタン）. The two of them performed "Hobo Mizu no Awa" (Cheers Beer) which is the final track on Shiina's May 2024 album "Hojoya"（放生会...Carnival）, a release filled with collaborations ranging from Hikaru Utada（宇多田ヒカル）to Atarashii Gakko no Leaders（新しい学校のリーダーズ）. As for "Hobo Mizu no Awa", the tribute to drinking has got Shiina and Momo snarling happily away as if they were knocking back the suds with abandon while musically, we get the cocktail of jazz, rock and rockabilly. I don't really think that Shiina goes for just the mono-genre anymore. As with their performance on the Kohaku, the music video is also a treat for the eyes with Shiina and Momo's costume changes, choreography and all those Japanese and American jazz set designs.

Just as an aside, I found this video of Charan-Po-Rantan covering Shiina's "Ringo no Uta"（りんごのうた）. As for "Hojoya", it scored a No. 2 ranking on Oricon.