A few days ago, one of the commenters asked me if I had ever heard of Charan-Po-Rantan（チャラン・ポ・ランタン）and if they would be too modern for this blog. For the two questions respectively, I basically said "No" and "Hell, no!" We have had our goodly share of J-Pop covered from the 21st century.
Anyways, I was intrigued by the name of this unit, Charan-Po-Rantan, and after internally remarking gesundheit when I read the name, I went over to YouTube and picked out the first song I came across titled "Moebius no Ikitomari" (Moebius' Dead End). The title itself further sparked my curiosity so when I played it, I was pleasantly charmed by the sisters Matsunaga（松永もも・小春）, Momo (vocals) and Koharu (accordion/songwriting).
According to J-Wiki, Charan-Po-Rantan started professional life as this song-and-accordion sister act in 2010 debuting with another funky title "Oyashirazu no Tango"（親知らずのタンゴ...The Wisdom Tooth Tango）when they were known as an indies unit. "Moebius no Ikitomari" is their 5th regular single as a major act which got released in November 2015. The sisters wanted to go with a circus atmosphere and a sound that was borderless and incorporated musical styles from the East and West. Listening to this particular song, I think Momo and Koharu have succeeded wildly with a fun and crazy tune which seems to bring in genres such as ska and gypsy jazz while Momo's vocals do their own twisty Moebius Strip thing. I was also thinking of an airier version of Ego-Wrappin'. It's definitely fresh.
Back in 2013, Charan-Po-Rantan had participated in the South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas as their very first overseas gig. Apparently the big man behind Twitter, Jack Dorsey, was there and was absolutely tickled pink by the sisters. They couldn't have asked for a better fan than the CEO of one of the biggest social networking services.
PS I know that there is some sort of classical music running throughout the song. By chance, would anyone be able to identify it?
actually when they sing "ahi ahi ahi" there's a touch of Rossini's Figaro (from Barbiere di Siviglia)
ReplyDeleteHi, Zobeide.
DeleteThanks very much for the identification on that one. I've been hearing that off and on through many sources for many years but never knew what it was called.
Is it "In the Hall of the Mountain King (Peer Gynt) by Edvard Grieg"?
ReplyDeleteHello there.
DeleteI just heard the song on YouTube and you got it! Thanks.