Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra -- Peddlers（ペドラーズ）

With COVID-19 disrupting regular TV Japan broadcasting since last weekend, the only source for our Japanese television in our family has now been feeding straight in from NHK World Japan which means no more variety programs or other shows from the commercial networks such as NTV or Fuji-TV. Initially, I thought it was a problem with TV Japan itself since it's based in New York, the epicentre of the outbreak in the United States, but now I think that variety shows themselves in Japan have been disrupted. For one thing, there are no more studio audiences allowed and the plethora of tarento often crowding in front of the cameras may now be a thing of the past. So, I can imagine that those shows are probably on hiatus or will have to undergo serious retooling.

Thankfully, "Chiko-chan ni Shikarareru"（チコちゃんに叱られる！）, being an NHK show, is still going on. In fact, we got the most recent episode for April 10th right on April 10th, although maybe the social distancing among co-host Okamura and the guests could have been better. One of the two guests happened to be Atsushi Yanaka（谷中敦）, the baritone sax player for the cool veteran band Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra. Strangely enough, earlier this morning, the NHK music show "SONGS" featured TSPO in all their ska-kicking glory.

These fellows can probably take any song and oomph it up with their ska. It's like taking a tenderloin steak and instead of sprinkling the usual salt and pepper, TSPO throws on a special spice mix and the former cow becomes this even more wonderful culinary creation from the grill. And that is what they did with the Russian folk song "Korobeiniki" as it was transformed into the short but potent "Peddlers". It first showed up on the band's November 1989 mini-album, "Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra", and I think it's been a frequent inclusion in subsequent releases.

The reason for the title "Peddlers" is probably because the song itself deals with a peddler and a girl, according to the Wikipedia article. And the reason that it got highlighted on "SONGS" was that it was a favourite of none other than former 80s aidoru-turned-actress Kyoko Koizumi（小泉今日子）.

When I heard the ska version, I wondered why it sounded so familiar. Well, for a certain generation, the game Tetris was all the rage, and yep, I was also one of the millions who had his/her copy of the game with the computer music version of "Korobeiniki" placed as the theme song. If TSPO's version had been used, I can guarantee that those various Tetris blocks and segments would have been dancing instead of strutting down the screen.