In a country like the United States, the popular music scene comprises equal parts of jazz, country, blues, and Latin, which all have different roots. This is a feature shared with many Japanese bands, but none have so gleefully explored the world of music or so successfully adapted diverse genres to their own unique style.Īllow us to diverge here for a moment to explain the genre of Japanese pop music known as kayōkyoku. Musical genres ranging from rock and blues to soul, Latin, folk, reggae, funk, electronics, and ambient converge in the eclectic music of the Southern All Stars. A “Mixed Juice” of Rhythm and Tranquility They share with their fans the same goals and walk with them on the same musical journey. The Southern All Stars are not glittering, distant stars. This is why the band remains a close and familiar entity to its fans. The quality of their music and live performances is top class. That description only extends to their personalities, however. Even after 40 years, they retain the artless innocence of amateurs in the midst of professionals. They call themselves the “All Stars,” but clearly they don’t act like stars. The band started as a student music club at Aoyama Gakuin University in downtown Tokyo’s Shibuya, and they have never lost that student ambience, conversing and joking among themselves just as they did in their university days so long ago. Why is it that the Japanese people find the Southern All Stars so endearing? For one thing, despite their incredible popularity they have never become aloof or distanced themselves from the ordinary Japanese people. Such has been their sustained popularity among Japanese of all ages that they are often referred to today as Japan’s “national band.” Unchanged Over Four Decades There have been interludes along the way as some band members worked solo and other projects interceded, but their popularity has never waned, and they are now into their third generation of fans. Since then they have released major hits and music tailored to each decade thereafter, from the 1970s right up through the current decade of the 2010s. No other Japanese band has so consistently put out so many hits or kept their leading position in the Japanese music world over a career of four decades. It is an honor to be chosen to perform at the very end of Japan’s highest-rated television program and annual national event, and the Southern All Stars certainly deserved it.
The Southern All Stars wrapped up the 2018 NHK Kōhaku uta gassen year-end television songfest, the last of the Heisei era, with a rousing performance of their most-well known songs including “Kibō no wadachi” (Tire Tracks of Hope) and “Katte ni Shindobaddo” (Willfully Sindbad).
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