The closing ceremony of the recent Tokyo Olympics was a surprise for many people. The organisers, recognising that many athletes were unable to explore Tokyo due to restrictions, transformed the Olympic stadium into a massive public park. The park featured typical Japanese leisure activities like yoga and rope skipping and a short film that showed the athletes what Japanese festival music and dancing is like, with clips from the Ainu in Hokkaido, Eisa dancing from Okinawa and Gujo Odori from Gifu, which led to live Bon Odori dancing in the stadium, driven by a booming taiko drum.
We've been starved of live performances for many months, so seeing this end-of-games show was a treat for me. Two things, however, caught my attention -- the performances of the Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra (nicknamed Skapara) and skateboarders zipping everywhere.
Skapara was founded in 1988 by percussionist Asa-Chang and veteran musicians from Tokyo's underground scene. The band emerged during a roots boom that included Okinawan bands like Rinkenband, The Boom and Tokyo roots rockers Shang Shang Typhoon. In fact, in the early 1990s, I went on tour with Shang Shang Typhoon and Skapara on the former's Southeast Asian tour as their photographer, covering the Thai and Indonesian legs of the tour. It was a lot of fun travelling with both bands and their music went down very well, especially in Indonesia.
Skapara were one of the first ska bands in Asia. Japan was already enjoying a reggae boom in the 1980s and Skapara rode that wave into the 1990s when the band enjoyed its peak years. The Philippines and Indonesia were the first countries in this region to adopt reggae and ska but it took Thailand a few more years to get the Jamaican groove. Manila's wonderful Putriska put out several albums of 2-Tone ska (influenced by British bands like The Specials) in the 1980s and deserve a mention in any history of ska in the region.
Thirty years later and Skapara has become a globally recognised band, having toured and performed at festivals across the planet. But still, it was a surprise that they were chosen to anchor the musical performances at the Olympics. Kudos to the organisers.
The last time the Olympics was held in Japan was in 1964. Three years earlier, Kyu Sakamoto had a global hit with his Sukiyaki song (Japanese title, Ue O Muite Arukou), which until the rise of the Yellow Magic Orchestra in the 1980s was the biggest international Japanese hit record. Skapara kicked off the music with a version of this song and then segued into an inspired choice, a jazzy ska version of the theme song Gurenge for the hugely popular anime show Demon Slayer. The original was performed by LiSA.
Skapara also performed their take on Beethoven's Ode To Joy which was not a surprise as Beethoven is very popular in Japan, especially during New Year when it can be heard across the country.
There was also a Japanese-language version of French chanson icon Edit Piaf's Hymne A L'Amour by Japanese singer Milet. French chanson, like tango, remains popular in Japan but the real reason for choosing this genre was that the next games will be in Paris.
The opening ceremony for the Olympics featured a wide selection of video game music -- after all, Japan has created some of the most memorable and popular video games. Some readers, particularly those with abnormally large thumbs, may have recognised some of these themes and songs: Roto's Theme (Dragon Quest), Victory Fanfare and Main Theme (Final Fantasy), Starlight Zone (Sonic The Hedgehog), eFootball Walk-On Theme (Pro Evolution Soccer), The Brave New Stage Of History (Soulcalibur), First Flight (Ace Combat) and Chrono Trigger (Frog's Theme) to name but a few on the list.
Oddly, there was nothing from Nintendo nor a Pokémon character, which meant that perhaps the most recognised of all platform games Super Mario Bros was absent. I'm not sure why these games and related music were not included.
Ska fans interested in Skapara's best work should check out the band's debut EP Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra and Tokyo Strut (Epic, 1006). The band's latest album is SKA=ALMIGHTY, released on March 3. More information is available at tokyoska.net/tokyoskaen.
John Clewley can be contacted at clewley.john@gmail.com.
