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劇団無頼派 [Gekidan Buraiha] - 今様聖書 [Modern Bible] (1975)

 

Artist: 劇団無頼派 [Gekidan Buraiha]
Album: 今様聖書 [Modern Bible]
Location: Shibuya, Japan
Genres: Japanese Folk, Singer-Songwriter
Year Released: 1975-xx-xx
Format(s) Released: Private Press Vinyl LP

Explanation:

Though I enjoy this record I can't help but feel I'm missing out on a lot here. Not only can I not understand Japanese, but I cannot find the lyrics for this anywhere. I can't even begin to guess what's this record is about. Looking through various comments relating to this record it appears nobody else knows what's going on aside from a brief context which I will write later.

This record is remembered by a handful of people in Japan and a bunch of western fans who have no idea what it is about.

This is 今様聖書, a record released in 1975 by Japanese theatre group 劇団無頼派. It was a private press release, meaning someone paid for a handful of copies to be made and likely distributed it within a community. With such low circulation it's amazing we're even able to hear it some 50 years later.

Listening, it’s some comfy Japanese folk featuring a male or female vocalist with nothing but a guitar and their own voice. Occasionally they are joined by backup singers or sometimes with someone performing spoken word over it. In one instance the female poet got really fierce, shouting angrily over the calm instrumental.

It's got a very concert-feel to it, as if they are performing to an audience. According to RYM they are a student group from Kokugakuin University so this could very well be a performance of theirs.

It was nice, though I would probably enjoy it more if I knew what they were saying.

Reasons for Disappearance:

Being a private press release the album saw very little distribution, likely never even leaving Shibuya. You were likely not even able to purchase it outside of Shibuya and I don't this record even saw a record store.

This makes recovering this a challenge. But, at some point someone found and ripped it. I have no idea who, when it was found or what. All I know is that it appeared on trackers at some point, was on YouTube for a bit and a friend ended up sending me a copy of it.

I'd wager it was one of the original band members or a collector of this music but who knows? Shoot, I only found out about this record because I saw it on a list of private press releases from Japan. It had such a striking cover I decided I wanted to give it a listen. 

This group isn't particularly unknown. They have a few mentions across the internet and their lineup is listed on RYM (from other sources). The group consisted of 高橋実, 斉樹潤哉, 坂田裕一, 小林清孝, 横山花火, 坂元貞美, 吉田蘭呆, 宮沢彰, 前田薫子, 鈴木仁, 徳永博, 飯田淳一 and 根本年男. I haven't done a bunch of research as to where these students are now but as I haven't heard anything to the contrary I am going to put that after this they all retired from music, continuing whatever their studies were in University.

And here we are now.

Download: aHR0cHM6Ly9tZWdhLm56L2ZpbGUvYkZZbHlRNWIjU1g1Q25CQUdvNnYxMXRpdF92LWhlTEQ2WWJFVURGQ1RUUVI0LXlucUMzSQ==
Password: japanesefolk

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