Laula

Summer is here and Japan's ukulele scene is ramping up. It seems everyone is putting something out last month or this. Today's new introduction includes one of those.

A duet that has made mention here a couple of times but never properly introduced is Laula. (Linked page in Japanese.) Rinkai Hiroshi plays ukulele and Matsui Takashi plays guitar and sings. Readers of Rolling Coconuts or owner of any RC/Geneon compliations have without doubt encountered this pair.

Rinkai's mother apparently is heavily into hula, starting her son off on ukulele. Both members were born in Fujisawa, more or less next door to Kamakura, one of Japan's ancient capitols. It seems the combination of birth place and interests gives them their direction in choices of songs to record. They seem to focus on songs about the area from which they come and Hawaiian standards.

They released their "Double Rainbow Best of Laula" on 6 June this year. The double album also comes with a DVD. If this kind of music is your kind of thing, you can have a listen to some of their songs here.