Chin Music Press - Adventures in Publishing

Chitose Hajime

Music Fridays

Kotonoha (2001)

She's not particularly loud or flashy, but her voice is true. Underpinned by solid training in shima uta (island song), a traditional singing style, Chitose Hajime's songs resonate with longing and shake the soul.

Her voice is supremely unemphatic yet full of feeling. High notes are solid and easy-sounding, lows earthy and warm. The singing style recalls Sinead O'Connor, Bjork, Enya and Dolores O'Riordan (of the Cranberries). All of whom, I realize as I go through the list in my head, are singers from island nations. Is there something to this connection?

Turns out, long before she was a famous singer in Japan, some Irish trad music fanatics coveted Hajime's first live-recording, which was made at a folk singing contest when she was a high schooler. Hajime grew up on the remote island of Amami Oshima (off the south coast of Kyushu, north of Okinawa), and her cultural background lends her style authenticity.

Kotonoha is Hajime's second release as a pop singer and her first record of original materials (her first release covered songs by the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Sugarcubes and Carole King). This is a mini-album, so there's only five songs, but they cover a surprising range of moods and genres.

"Yakusoku" and "Ryugu no Tsukai" are the standouts. Melancholy, they fuse Hajime's plaintive storytelling with slow ska/reggae rhythm and drone-like electronica baselines. Both are written and produced by Gen Ueda, formerly of punk/ska unit LA-PPISCH and a veteran musician and composer.

When she decided to pursue a music career and moved to Tokyo, Hajime signed up with a small indie label called Augusta. She was introduced to quality musicians known for their songwriting skills, including ex-Barbee Boys singer Kyoko, acoustic rocker Masayoshi Yamazaki, Shikao Suga and Ueda. He has been a steady musical voice of Hajime's career since. His "Wadatsumi no Ki" became the first of Hajime's breakout hits shortly after this mini-album.

The title song, which features Hajime's ethereal falsetto voice-over in its intro, was written and produced by then little-known guitarist/composer Takumi Mamiya. Its dramatic single-string riff on the guitar recalls the traditional shamisen (a traditional three-stringed guitar-like instrument).

Mamiya also produced the rest of the album ("Seirei" and "Mihachigatsu"). Melodies seem to borrow from the traditional music, but they've been shaped to fit the pop song structure. They have enough bells and whistles in the form of sampled noise, electric organs and other stuff to blend neatly with today's flavor of J-pop.

Since those days, Hajime's been busy. She released two full-length albums and a live CD/DVD and got rave reviews on a few records she collaborated on with the French electronica unit Deep Forest. Her work has been featured in tons of TV dramas, movies and video games. Back on the scene after a marriage-and-pregnancy hiatus, her single — "Kataritsugukoto" — is due out November 23.

Akira Morita >> November 04, 2005

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