10 Japanese Musicians To Add To Your Playlist

1. Downtown (ƒ€‚ƒ‚‚ƒ)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c64sQsABKcM Okay, technically Downtown is not primarily a musical act. They're a comedy duo performing the owarai style of Japanese comedy. This takes the form double act in which one character takes on the role of the boke, the idiot, and the other takes on the role of that tsukommi, the smart one. It's often very slapstick and involved an element of physical abuse for the boke. Downtown consists of Hamada Masatoshi, or Hama-chan, and Matsumoto Hitoshi, or Ma-chan. The former is the tsukommi, the latter is the boke. They've been performing together since 1983. Why is a comedy double-act on this list? Well, like the Lonely Island in America or Ylvis in Norway, they've made a lot of comedy songs which a both technically brilliant and very funny. Take the song attached to this article, for example. It's a parody of YouTube sensation Kyary Pamyu Pamyu and her eccentric visual style. The name of the song is "nandeyanen" (‚“‚„‚“‚“) which is Kansai dialect, the dialect all Japanese comedians speak, for "what the f*ck are you doing?" It's also the duo's catchphrase.
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