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Minyo Groove 1963-1979 - Japan Meets Latin, Rock, Rare Groove & Funky Vibes (Selected By DJ Yoshizawa Dynamite)

180g

Active as a professional DJ in Japan since the late eighties, DJ Yoshizawa Dynamite is also a renowned remixer, compiler and producer. An avid record collector and an expert of Wamono music, Yoshizawa has published in 2015 the now-classic Wamono A to Z records guide book, which instantly sold-out. The book unveiled a myriad of beautiful and rare records from a highly prolific, but still then unknown, Japanese groove scene. He has also selected a large part of the music in our highly acclaimed Wamono compilations.

For this brand new chapter in the series, Yoshizawa explores King Records' legendary catalog and unearths exceptional, rare and unknown musical gems. King Records has been releasing music since 1931 and is one of the most prestigious labels in Japan. Traditional Japanese music, known as "Minyo", are ancient songs once sung by fishermen, coal miners and sumo wrestlers. They are reimagined here with vibrant afro latin, rock, rare groove and funky arrangements in this killer selection of music released on King between 1963 and 1979. Also worth mentioning is the track Ohara Bushi by The Peanuts, which was released only on tape in 1970 and is now available for the first time ever on vinyl format.

Put the needle on the record, turn up the volume and dig right now into the Wamono sound - the cream of the Japanese funk, soul, rare groove and disco music developed throughout the years since the end of the fifties in Japan!

TRACK LISTING

1. Chiemi Eri - Aizu Bandaisan
2. Pinky & Killers - Soran Bushi
3. Tokyo Children's Choir - Kokiriko
4. Michiya Mihashi & Tokyo Cuban Boys - Sado Okesa
5. Dark Ducks - Konpira Funefune
6. Ebonee Webb - Cowboy's Elegy
7. Akira Ishikawa & Count Buffalo - Tanchame
8. Satoru Oda & His Group - Yagi Bushi
9. Pinky & Killers - Otemoyan
10. Miki Nakasone - Kunjan Sabakui
11. Leon Pops - Mamurogawa Ondo
12. The Peanuts - Ohara Bushi
13. Tokyo Academy Mixed Choir - Kiyari Kuzushi
14. King Orchestra - Dojou Sukui (Yasugi Bushi)

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Wamono A To Z Presents: "Blow Up" Trio - Japanese Rare Groove From The Trio Records Vaults 1973-1981 (Selected By Chintam)

180g

After many years working as a buyer for several record stores, DJ Chintam opened his own Blow Up shop in 2018 in Tokyo's Shibuya district. A member of the Dayjam Crew and a specialist of soul, funk, rare groove and disco music, Chintam is also an expert of the home-brewed Wamono grooves. He supervised and wrote the legendary Wamono A to Z records guide book together with DJ Yoshizawa Dynamite.

For this brand new chapter in the highly acclaimed Wamono series, our man Chintam goes digging into the vaults of one of the most revered Japanese labels: Trio Records. Established in 1969 by audio manufacturer Trio Electronics, now known as Kenwood, the label - and its subsidiaries such as Showboat and Trash - released high quality music spanning a large variety of genres including rock, jazz, fusion, soundtracks and popular songs, until its end in 1984. Through the eight tracks selected here, Chintam unearths some dope drum breaks, heavy bass lines and funky horns, for an essential selection of jazz funk fusion and rare groove vibes produced on Trio between 1973 and 1981.

Put the needle on the record, turn up the volume and dig right now into the Wamono sound - the cream of the Japanese jazz, funk, soul, rare groove and boogie music developed throughout the years since the sixties in Japan!

TRACK LISTING

1. Tonpei Hidari - Tonpei No Hey You Blues
2. Chu Kosaka & Ultra - Kimagure Party
3. Kazushi Inamura - Go Yojin
4. Fumio Karashima - American Tango
5. Takao Uematsu - Mysterious Jump
6. Maximum - Ashita Tenki Ni Nare
7. Jun Miyauchi - Heartbreak Highway
8. Hiroshi Murakami & Dancing Sphinx - Baby, It's Trivial

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WAMONO A To Z Vol. I - Japanese Jazz Funk & Rare Groove 1968-1980 (Selected By DJ Yoshizawa Dynamite & Chintam)

180g

Active as a professional DJ in Japan since the late eighties, DJ Yoshizawa Dynamite is also a renowned remixer, compiler and producer. An avid record collector and an expert of the Wamono style, Yoshizawa published the Wamono A to Z records guide book in 2015 which instantly sold-out. The book unveiled a myriad of beautiful and rare records from a highly prolific, but still then unknown, Japanese groove scene.

After many years working as a record buyer for several stores, DJ Chintam opened his own Blow Up shop in 2018 in Tokyo's Shibuya district. A member of the Dayjam Crew and a specialist of soul, funk, rare groove and disco music, Chintam is also an expert of the home-brewed Wamono grooves. He supervised and wrote the Wamono A to Z records guide book together with Yoshizawa.

With this first volume of the Wamono series, our two DJs here guide you through some of the best and rarest jazz funk and rare groove tunes produced in Japan between 1968 and 1980. Put the needle on the record, turn up the volume and dig right now into the Wamono sound - the cream of the Japanese funk, soul, rare groove and disco music developed throughout the years since the end of the sixties in Japan!

TRACK LISTING

1. Toshiko Yonekawa - Soran Bushi
2. Takeo Yamashita - A Touch Of Japanese Tone
3. Tadaaki Misago & Tokyo Cuban Boys - Jongara Reggae
4. Chikara Ueda & The Power Station - Cloudy
5. Chumei Watanabe - Downtown Blues
6. Kifu Mitsuhashi - Hanagasa Ondo
7. Monica Lassen & The Sounds - Incitation
8. Norio Maeda Jiro Inagaki & The All-Stars - Go Go A Go Go
9. Akira Ishikawa & The Jazz Rock Band - The Sidewinder
10. Masahiko Sato Jiro Inagaki & Big Soul Media - Sniper's Snooze

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WAMONO A To Z Vol. II - Japanese Funk 1970-1977 (Selected By DJ Yoshizawa Dynamite & Chintam)

180g

Active as a professional DJ in Japan since the late eighties, DJ Yoshizawa Dynamite is also a renowned remixer, compiler and producer. An avid record collector and an expert of the Wamono style, Yoshizawa published the Wamono A to Z records guide book in 2015 which instantly sold-out. The book unveiled a myriad of beautiful and rare records from a highly prolific, but still then unknown, Japanese groove scene.

After many years working as a record buyer for several stores, DJ Chintam opened his own Blow Up shop in 2018 in Tokyo's Shibuya district. A member of the Dayjam Crew and a specialist of soul, funk, rare groove and disco music, Chintam is also an expert of the home-brewed Wamono grooves. He supervised and wrote the Wamono A to Z records guide book together with Yoshizawa.

In this second volume of the acclaimed Wamono series, Yoshizawa and Chintam dig into some of the best and rarest funky tunes produced in Japan during the seventies. Put the needle on the record, turn up the volume and dig right now into the Wamono sound - the cream of the Japanese jazz, funk, soul, rare groove and disco music developed throughout the years since the end of the sixties in Japan!

TRACK LISTING

1. Mieko Hirota - Theme Of "Doberman Cop"
2. Hiroshi Sato - Bad Junky Blues
3. Sammy With Jiro Inagaki & Soul Media - The In-And-Outer-Stomp-And-Shouter
4. Fujio Tokita - Watashi No Beatles
5. School Band - I Hope It's Fine
6. Bread & Butter - Devil Woman
7. Hatsumi Shibata - Singer Lady
8. Kan Mikami - Jikokeno No Samba
9. Akira Yasuda & Beat Folk - Yumura No Obaba
1.0 Pinky Chicks - Tosetsu Donpan Bushi

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Wamono Disco - Nippon Columbia Disco & Boogie Hits 1978-1982

180g

In the mid-seventies, discotheques were booming in Tokyo and all over Japan. When the Fatback Band topped the 1975 US charts with their infectious "Do The Bus Stop" hit, Japanese label Victor put out the following year the first Japan made Disco tune with "Sexy Bus Stop", released under the mysterious name Dr. Dragon & Oriental Express, a pseudonym for successful Japanese pop composer Kyohei Tsutsumi. "Sexy Bus Stop" became an instant hit in the country and, taking this opportunity, various Japanese record companies started releasing Disco music. From 1976 until the early 1980s the music was often recorded by skilled studio musicians, rather than by computer input, providing a really solid sound to the dancefloor. Disco music was also spreading into TV series, commercials and anime. From Godiego's monster hit "The Birth Of The Odyssey - Monkey Magic" to Pink Parachute's obscure (and excellent!) "Disco Great Tokyo" tune, this selection explores some of the finest Disco and Boogie music released on the legendary Nippon Columbia label in the late seventies and early eighties. Are you ready? Put your dance shoes on, and enjoy!

TRACK LISTING

1. Godiego - The Birth Of The Odyssey - Monkey Magic
2. Ikue Sakakibara - This Is Hot
3. Soul Media - I Will Give You Samba
4. Hatsumi Shibata - Purple Shadow
5. Yumi Murata - Krishna
6. Yoshito Machida・Godiego - Ame Wa Knife No Yo Sa
7. Pink Parachute - Disco Great Tokyo
8 Hatsumi Shibata - Hazumi De Daite (A Woman In A Man's World)
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Wamono Groove: Shakuhachi & Koto Jazz Funk '76

180g

Born in 1932 in Tokyo, Kiyoshi Yamaya started his musical career in 1953 when he played in various jazz bands in town. In 1957, Yamaya joined Nobuo Hara's famous jazz big band Sharps & Flats as a baritone saxophone player and started composing, arranging, and recording for them and other big bands. He became a key jazz figure in Japan in the sixties together with Norio Maeda and Keitaro Miho, both jazz pianists, composers and arrangers, by forming the Modern Jazz Three Association – which aimed at improving the level of Japanese jazz composition and arrangement. In the mid-seventies, his Contemporary Sound Orchestra explored jazz funk fusions with traditional Japanese melodies and instruments such as the shakuhachi, koto, biwa, and shamisen. These works were recorded for a series of panoramic Japanese albums released domestically on Denon and Nippon Columbia, from which the tracks on this compilation are taken from.

Toshiko Yonekawa, born 1913 in the city of Himeji, not so far from Osaka, is the eldest daughter of koto and shamisen master Kin'o Yonekawa. She started studying both instruments with her talented father from the age of 3, played in her first concert at 8, and was only 12 years old when she first appeared on national radio. Her unique style of koto playing is widely recognized due to the extreme accuracy of the intonation and rhythm, as well as the unequaled beauty of the instrument's sonority. After a life decorated with awards and prizes, Toshiko Yonekawa was named a Living National Treasure in 1996.

Born in Tokyo in 1950, Kifu Mitsuhashi is a great master of Koto style shakuhachi. After completing the NHK Hōgaku Training Program in 1972, Mitsuhashi became a member of Pro Musica Nipponia, a group of leading composers and top-ranking musicians devoted to performing a wide-ranging repertoire of classical and contemporary compositions from both Japan and the West – in which all music is performed by traditional Japanese musical instruments. Mitsuhashi has toured the world for hundreds of recitals, also as a soloist, and has performed his art with the greatest ensembles such as the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Berliner Philharmoniker. In 2020, Kifu Mitsuhashi was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun.

TRACK LISTING

1. Nanbu Ushioi-Uta (feat. Kifu Mitsuhashi)
2. Isohama Bon-Uta (feat. Toshiko Yonekawa)
3. Hohai-Bushi (feat. Kifu Mitsuhashi)
4. Otemoyan (feat. Toshiko Yonekawa)
5. Aizu Bandaisan (feat. Kifu Mitsuhashi)
6. Saitaro-Bushi (feat. Toshiko Yonekawa)
7. Soma Nagareyama (feat. Kifu Mitsuhashi)
8. Yagi-Bushi (feat. Toshiko Yonekawa)
9. Asadoya Yunta (feat. Kifu Mitsuhashi)
10. Konpira Fune Fune (feat. Toshiko Yonekawa)

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WAMONO A To Z Vol. III - Japanese Light Mellow Funk, Disco & Boogie 1978-1988

180g

Following the highly acclaimed volumes I and II, dig further into the Wamono sound - the cream of the Japanese jazz, funk, soul, rare groove and disco music developed throughout the years since the end of the sixties in Japan!

Active as a professional DJ in Japan since the late eighties, DJ Yoshizawa Dynamite is also a renowned remixer, compiler and producer. An avid record collector and an expert of the Wamono style, Yoshizawa published the Wamono A to Z records guide book in 2015 which instantly sold-out. The book unveiled a myriad of beautiful and rare records from a highly prolific, but still then unknown, Japanese groove scene.

After many years working as a record buyer for several stores, DJ Chintam opened his own Blow Up shop in 2018 in Tokyo's Shibuya district. A member of the Dayjam Crew and a specialist of soul, funk, rare groove and disco music, Chintam is also an expert of the home-brewed Wamono grooves. He supervised and wrote the Wamono A to Z records guide book together with Yoshizawa.

For this third chapter of the acclaimed Wamono series, Yoshizawa and Chintam unheart some of the best and rarest light mellow funk tunes and disco boogie bangers produced in Japan between 1978 and 1988. Put the needle on the record, turn up the volume and dig right now into the Wamono sound - the cream of the Japanese jazz, funk, soul, rare groove and disco music developed throughout the years since the end of the sixties in Japan!

TRACK LISTING

1. Tetsuo Sakurai - Kimono
2. Jadoes - Friday Night (Extended Dance Mix)
3. Yumi Sato - Ame
4. Kiyohiko Ozaki - Ojosan Ote Yawaraka Ni
5. Hitomi Tohyama - Rainy Driver
6. Sentimental City Romance - Hello Suisei
7. Mizuki Koyama - Kare Niwa Kanawanai
8. Hitomi Tohyama - Sweet Soul Music (Kiss Of Life)

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