Crazy Ken Band -- The Roots

 

I mentioned in my previous article on Rimi Natsukawa's（夏川りみ）"Tinsagu nu Hana"（てぃんさぐぬ花）, that I caught the Okinawan singer's reassuring song on last night's "Uta Con"（うたコン）on NHK. Officially, the theme of the episode was on the go-touchi kayo（ご当地歌謡）: Japanese pop songs based on the wonders of the various geographical regions in Japan, and I gather that Natsukawa's song was such a tune representing Okinawa Prefecture.

At the same time though, I also caught a subtext in which last night's show was also on the family. There were a few songs that touched on that including the aforementioned "Tinsagu nu Hana" and the topic of this article. Dapper and slightly rebellious singer-songwriter Ken Yokoyama（横山剣）also appeared on "Uta Con" to show off one of his most recent from his band Crazy Ken Band's（クレイジーケンバンド）August 2022 album, "Juei"（樹影...Shadow of a Tree）.

"The Roots", as sung by Crazy Ken in his recognizably gruff voice (he also wrote and composed it), is a tribute to not only the parents but also all of the ancestors going back through history. But instead of it sounding like a dry report from Ancestry.com, it's done in a celebratory and bluesy way since without everyone before, there wouldn't be a someone now. After his performance last night, I was left wondering how far back my family tree extends in Wakayama Prefecture.

Additionally, the theme of the go-touchi kayo on "Uta Con" did give me a brain wave about providing a couple of articles at least, devoted to the various Japanese songs themselves devoted to each of the 47 prefectures and territories. I've got a number of them collected on the blog over the past decade.