For local reggae fans, further proof was hardly necessary. But for outsiders looking into Japan's reggae scene, the demise of the foreign artist-centered Reggae Japansplash and the doubling in size of Yokohama Reggae Sai, which is hosted by the Mighty Crown and focuses on Japanese acts, are highly symbolic of the continuing surge in popularity of domestic reggae compared to its Jamaican parent.
By Paul Jackson"I can imagine that this seems like a strange phenomenon to foreigners looking at Japan," says singer Pushim, one of the biggest names in Japanese reggae and a regular performer at the Yokohama Reggae Sai, which this year sold out in "minutes" rather than hours or days.
Pushim, whose new album Queendom will hit stores on Aug. 4, believes the use of Japanese lyrics has brought reggae much closer to a new generation of fans who identify more easily with local singers and emcees than with Jamaican ones.
"There are some differences among the people who would go (to Japansplash and Yokohama Reggae Sai)," she says. "For a start, there are a lot more people who want to sing along at Yokohama."
Talking to Pushim, there's also a feeling that Japansplash, which was strongly associated with an earlier reggae boom in Japan in the early '90s, had lost touch with what the new generation of reggae fans wanted to listen to. It seems the event was clinging to artists that had long since lost their "hot" status in Jamaica.
In other words, move aside Frankie Paul, Luciano and Beres Hammond, here are Pushim, Fire Ball and the Mighty Crown.
While the future of Japansplash remains in doubt, plenty of other events have emerged to challenge the Yokohama Reggae Sai as Japan's leading reggae meet. And many of them are following the precedent it set last year of moving to an outdoor venue and rocketing in size.
"This year Yokohama's going to be twice the size of last year, so that'll make it about 20,000," says Pushim. "Highest Mountain in Osaka, which will be held outdoors for the first time this year, is aiming for 10,000.
"After that there are loads of smaller ones from Sapporo to Fukuoka...I'm playing at just about all of these outdoor reggae events so for details on them take a look at my Web site (www.pushim.com)."
If the Mighty Crown have the biggest reggae event in Japan now, does Pushim believe that makes them the most significant act in shaping the Japanese reggae scene?
The answer is "yes" and "no."
"In terms of pulling in new fans into reggae and getting young people to dance and letting the world know about Japanese reggae, then Mighty Crown deserve respect," says Pushim, who stresses there's no definitive answer to such a question. "But in terms of putting reggae into Japanese, the originator was Rankin' Taxi. He made his own sound system and was really pushing forward the frontier.
"When it comes to song-making and getting people to feel reggae, I think we also merit some respect," Pushim adds with a chuckle.
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Elephant Man, Pushim keep it jiggy
Pushim's Queendom is an object lesson in how Japanese reggae functions best. Its 14 tracks cover a large slice of the reggae gamut and then some. Intense dancehall grinds alongside catchy upbeat summer reggae melodies; tracks with an edgy hip-hop feel compete with Latin-tinged numbers to provide an alternative influence on the overall sound; local dancehall favorites Fire Ball offer guest support one moment while Jamaica's deejay of the moment Elephant Man does so the next. And while there are many wannabe reggae singers out there, few can hold a tune with such a raw gutsy voice as Pushim.
"There's much more of the real me coming through on this album and in that sense it's my favorite one to date," Pushim says. "On the last release, Pieces, I was in quite a moody state of mind. But while making this one, whatever album or sound (of mine) you compare it to, I was far more relaxed."
Her burgeoning confidence is apparent on booming old-skool roots tracks like "Soldier," her sudden double-speed syllables on "Like a Sunshine, My Memory" (reminiscent of Madonna's "La Isla Bonita") and on "Satisfaction," the collaboration with Elephant Man, whom she had worked with before he blew up internationally.
"When I went to Jamaica for the first time, in 1997, I met Elly and at that time we made a dub plate together for Stone Love, one of the famous sound system crews over there.
"He's got such an intuitive sense. Recording with him takes no time at all."
Not that Elephant Man is the most illustrious name on the track.
The guitarist happens to be no less than former Fugees main man Wyclef Jean, whose studio was used to record the basic track.
But even if Jean was not originally meant to play on the track, doesn't this sprinkling of names with superstar status suggest a certain abuse of others' reputations to embolden your own?
"I don't see any problem in the approach (of collaborating with big names) so long as it doesn't sound forced or sound like it hasn't come from the artists. Sometimes, it's obvious when you hear a track that it's just some producer or director who has come up with the idea," says Pushim, whose dedication to reggae when it suddenly lost popularity in Japan in the '90s is one piece of evidence suggesting that Japanese reggae has far deeper roots than might at first appear to be the case.
"I debuted just as the boom suddenly crashed, but for us on a personal level it was always booming really. We were still listening to reggae. Would it boom again among the general public? We didn't even think about it. I understand the boom and bust as a media thing. For the people around me nothing had changed. We were still into reggae," Pushim recalls. "Certainly no one around me felt like giving up."
Such close ties helped maintain the reggae scene in Japan, building loyalties that remain today.
"My backing band (of more than seven years) treat me like a family member," says Pushim, who apportions a large part of her success to the solid work of her touring band--who themselves have a release out on Aug. 4.
Time is Reggae, the title of their CD, is quite symbolic in itself, but the name of the band is even more so--Homegrown.
