Reverse Karaoke

This is a proof-of-concept piece made in the spirit of a gift to the various kind people who let me record them singing while I was in Japan in March of 2019. In most cases I was (and am) unfamiliar with the original versions and my Japanese is still too poor to understand most of the lyrics. But the idea was to mimic the imperfect processes by which culture is communicated, by making new works from the fragments I collected. I hope that this is amusing for people from Japan who are familiar with the original works or their standard interpretations. For non-Japanese, I have tried to preserve a sense of time and place to convey the experiences we had in Japan. Thanks (in order of appearance) to Steph Doran, Yoshitaka Tsuji, Kaname K, Kitabeppu Madca, the Takaqura-gumi: Musashino "TAKE" Takeshi, Quramoto "QUMICHO" So and MUSAKO; and Ian F Martin for their contributions. Special thanks to Zoe Holmes, Alex Martin, Ian F Martin and Chris Carlier for their advice and for helping me make connections in Japan. Voices recorded at Kushikatsu Izakaya Daiyoshi in Tennoji, Osaka; Bamii in Koenji, Tokyo; and Karaoke Kan in Koganei, Tokyo. Instrumentation recorded in Pascoe Vale, Melbourne.