I feel that the musical style is fitting for a Kimura Takuya of today…soulful and if anything, a man who is going with the flow. Recommended!
ARTIST: 名渡山遼 (Natoyama Ryo)
ALBUM: Best Ukulele Covers J-Songs for the World
LABEL: INSENSE MUSIC WORKS
DURATION: 1:12:03
RELEASE DATE: 2020
DISC 1:
1. いつも何度でも
2. 花 ～すべての人の心に花を～
3. となりのトトロ
4. 家族になろうよ
5. ふたたび
6. 希望の唄
7. やさしさに包まれたなら
8. 君をのせて
9. ヒーロー
10. ひまわりの約束
11. 時には昔の話を
12. アシタカとサン
13. ひだまりの詩
14.ひこうき雲
15.旅路 ～夢中飛行～
16. 見知らぬ国（子供の情景より)
If America has Jake Shimabukuro, who would be the equivalent for Japan?
At this time, in terms of popularity and number of albums release and also has a social media presence, it would have to be Natoyama Ryo.
A lot of people grew alongside Natoyama Ryo on YouTube, may it be jamming on the ukulele with friends and just demonstrating the love for playing on the uke.
And now Natoyama Ryo is one of the top young ukulele artists from Japan and his music is slowly starting to be made digitally online through Amazon.
His latest ukulele cover album “Best Ukulele Covers: J-Songs for the World” is an album that will appeal to J-Pop and Studio Ghibli anime fans as Natoyama covers 16 songs.
It’s important to note that the US and Japanese tracklistings are in different order, but the same songs are featured. The other is that Natoyama has numerous “Best Ukulele” albums and there is also a Studio Ghibli album which features Natoyama’s music titled “Ukulele Ghibli no Kaze” from 2014 that is also available on Amazon worldwide.
If you want Studio Ghibli songs, then check out “Ukulele Ghibli no Kaze”, but you do get a good number of Ghibli songs by Natoyama on this “Best Ukulele Covers: J-Songs for the World”.
The first ukulele cover is “Itsumo Nantodemo” from “Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi” (Spirited Away) and a beautiful opening to the album.
The second track which I found rather surprising to find on the album is a ukulele cover of Shoukichi Kina’s Okinawa song “Hana Subete no Hito no Kokoro Ni Hana Wo”. A beautiful cover.
The third ukulele cover is “Tonari no Totoro” from the film “Tonari no Totoro” (My Neighbor Totoro).
Another J-Pop song featured as a ukulele cover is “Kazoku ni Narouyo” originally sung by Fukuyama Masaharu. A wonderful cover and one of my favorite songs on this album.
The fifth track is a ukulele cover of “Futatabi” from “Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi” (Spirited Away). A beautiful cover.
The sixth track is a song which I didn’t expect to see on this album, was a ukulele cover of FUNKY MONKEY BABYS “Kibou no Uta”. A pretty cool cover!
The seventh track is “Yasashisani Tsutsumaretanara”, a ukulele cover from when Yuming was known as Arai Yumi and is from “Majo no Takkyubin” (Kiki’s Delivery Service).
The eighth track is “Kimi wo Nosete” from “Tenkyu no Shiro Laputa” (Laputa: Castle in the Sky).
The ninth track is another FUNKY MONKEY BABYS song, a ukulele cover of “Hero”.
The tenth track is ukulele cover of Hata Motohiro’s “Himawari no Yakusoku” song from the animated film “Stand by Me Doraemon”.
The eleventh track is “Tokiniwa Mukashi No Hanashi Wo” from the 1992 Studio Ghibli animated film “Kurenai no Buta” (Porco Rosso).
The 12th track is “Ashitaka to san” from “Mononoke no Hime” (Princess Mononoke), a beautiful cover!
The 13th track is a cover of the popular Le Couple ballad, “Hidamari no Uta” and this is probably a track that absolutely shines on this album. My favorite!
The 14th track is “Hikoukigumo” is from the 2013 Studio Ghibli animated film “Kaze Tachinu” (The Wind Rises). A beautiful cover!
The 15th track “Tabiji Muchuuhikou” is another track from “Kaze Tachinu (The Wind Rises)”.
The final track ukulele cover is “Mishiranu Kuni Kodomo no Joukei Yori”.
Overall, this is an entertaining ukulele cover album from Natoyama Ryo. Natoyama who has received positive reviews most recently for his “Dragon Quest” ukulele cover album in Japan, has an album which will appeal to Studio Ghibli and Japanese music fans.
Would love to see Natoyama cover mainstream J-Pop songs in the future, may it be Mr.Children, Spitz, Southern All Stars, etc. But of the songs that are featured in this album, I really do like this album a lot.
If you love ukulele songs, especially solo ukulele albums with no other music accompanying the ukulele, then I definitely recommend “Best Ukulele Covers: J-Songs for the World”.
Recommended!
