riyu's Classroom: riyu (vocals, compose, lyrics, produce, head arrange, pre-production, keyboard+samplers, computer manipulate, mix, design, poems, poetry reading, translations), Bun Onoe (producer / poet / pre-production / design / photography), Shinobu Imai (producer / composer / arranger / pre-production), Hiroshi Asada (coordinator), Akihiro Soma (art work & design), Masaru Ishizaki (engineer), George Kinoshita (engineer), Osamu Matsumoto (arranger), Eiten Taga (ex-executive producer), Nobuo Uesaka (executive producer), and many other unique classmates.---------------------------------------------Bun Onoe-----
Artist, Poet-------
Bun Onoe is a poet & artist living in Tokyo, Japan. His greatest concern is in "Poetry Reading", and has created new styles of "Poetry Reading" ever since his debut in 1988. He has published 2 books, and recorded 2 solo albums of Poetry Reading.
Bun is also member of talk-rap group "Boy Meets Girl"(composer&guitarist, Shinobu imai + Bun with his poems & vocal). The group was discovered from Ryuichi Sakamoto's Radio show, where their song won First Prize. Bun also performs in "Poetry Reading Live Events" around Tokyo with poets such as Masato Tomobe, Shuntaro Tanikawa, and many other Japanese poets.
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"A Summer Far Away "
poem by Bun Onoe
"My grandma, who scolded me saying, 'grandmother' sounds old when you say 'grandmother', so just say 'Grandma'.
How we used to always argue back then, I only but miss you so much now
From my friends, you were named " Devil Grandma", and from our neighbors, you were respected and feared as"Wise Grandma"
You were peobably lonely, weren't you?
You had a canary that cries witha really beautiful voice, and you had pride in that bird
It was such an agressive canary, that whenever I stuck my hand in its' cage to change its' food, it would come and shove its' pointed beak into my fingers like it was going mad
It was just like you
You were always scared, that if you don't hold your spirits up high enough, you thought that you will lose to yourself
I don't blame you
I mean, your husband was already gone way before I was born,
and you struggled through life, a woman alone, all by yourself for such a long time
My grandpa, whom I heard about just once from you, was what Japanese call a "free man", quite a stylish man who had mistresses all over the place
Because you lived with a man like that,
oher men were probably too boring for you
"You know, your grandfather used to love flowers very much. When he and I walked to gether through a sunny country road, he would stand still, and would look at it with a real happy face"
Yes, I do remember you once talking to me, carrying me on your lap
It was on a porch where the warm afternoon sunlight shone
The days when you fell ill and was in bed practically all the time
On one very hot day in the Summer
Do you remember ? When I was carrying lunch on a tray, you took me by the hand and said, "I want to see a dragonfly"
Though I was a child, I felt a strong thump in my heart, and looked into your eyes many many times
The light coming in from the huge wide window glass in the hallway was dancing and flittering on your face, and
I had never seen you look so weak before in my whole entire life
Not knowing what to do, I ran outside immediately, and ran all over the place to catch a Shiokara dragonfly near the pond at the far end of the field
I can't remember at all, whether or not I caught the dragonfly and let you see it afterwards
All I remember, is the two Shiokara dragonflies that were flying around the pond, and three trees that were swaying slowly and slowly very far away
It's about a Summer far away
As I was busy running after the dragonfly, I couldn't help my tears from flowing and flowing out of my eyes
I was scared, that all of a sudden, you might go really far away
You and I were constantly arguing, causing all sorts of domestic problems in the house all the time
I couldn't understand, why you had to be so tense and irritated all the time
But now, I am finally capable of understanding your true feelings you had then
I understand your elegance and your stubborness,
the irritable impatience towards fate, and the biting cold of loneliness
I understand the sadness towards unreachables, I understand the anger towards undecideable directions
"I want to see a dragonfly"
Why couldn't you just say that?
Hey, Grandma?
We can never explain our heart
The only way, is to sing our heart
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"Simon Smith And The Dancing Bear"
Poem by Bun Onoe
(Translation: Riyuhip)
Bony fingers that look like a large beech tree comes sneaking up on me and pokes my forehead, BUMP!
Hey! Ouch!
As I shouted so and bent down, a hand like a hemp palm stroke BAM!
Ugh!
I couldn't even shout !
As they sandwiched me, they spinned 'round in the air
Several times, spinnin' 'round
Then, since they threw me into a washing machine with shirts and underpants drowning inside, today, I feel as miserable as a drenched one dollar bill, stuck onto a sidewalk in the pouring rain
There is no particular reason
This absurd miserable feeling with no particular reason starts bubbling up spontaneously like a sobbing,
and within time, becomes violent for no reason
And now the violently miserable feeling is flipping pachinko pinballs continuously
On a morning a tabby cat peeks quietly from the apartment window
I am a small rat, curled up in the corner of the room, waitiing to be tortured to death
Though my physical strength and sexual desire are blown-up like a balloon, I stay silent, a rat, that's waiting to be killed
I ran, and ran, and ran, and ran, and ran, and while I was running,
my baseball cap flew off, my stadium jacket loosened apart, my uniform came off, my pants and underpants dropped down, and not even noticing my wrinnkled penis hanging with sorrow towards the ground, I looked up to the sky, like a defeated pitcher on a deserted playground on Sunday
I took a deep breath, sigh
When I take a breath, I feel as if everything in the world is moving away from me, equally into the distance
Then, I slip out of myself, too,
and watch myself standing on a verranda like a giant mercury thermometer on Sunday
A mammal with a temperature of 36.5 degrees
is holding laundry in the sunshine, not knowing what to do
Feeling as though he has lost his habitat on Planet Earth
On a morning my clumsy finger failed to peel the bark of a pineapple
Simon Smith and the dancing bear
Simon Smith and the dancing bear are in the forest,
at the far end of Planet Earth
Holding their hands together, they're dancing
In the middle of a forest,
where not even one tree stands
Simon Smith and the dancing bear
Simon Smith and the dancing are playing
Right under the sky, where a duralumin egg hangs down
They're playing catch with fragments of an airplane that had crashed
Simon Smith and the dancing bear
Simon Smith and the dancing bear are singing
Old RagtimeMusic form New Orleans
That dancing bear!
You know, he's so good at using his falsetto !
Influences
< Poetry Reading x Remixes >
http://ccmixter.org/media/files/yamamiya/7449
http://ccmixter.org/media/files/bun_onoe/9107
(Poem: Bun Onoe / Acapella + Translation: Riyu)
Sounds Like
A Honey Bee.
"SPACE IS A BIG O (CIRCLE) -------------Poem by Bun Onoe & Riyu / Music by Riyu
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Chased, so I ran, and I fled to the alley of 2nd Street, I caught my breath and said "Phew!"
Then, I leaned back, took a breath, and I licked the scar on my lap, then I opened my compact, and I looked around all the way and took a glance around the whole neighbourhood
AWA AWA AWA AWA WA5 Giant Cats
AWA AWA AWA AWA WAAre coming after me
Then all of a sudden, I'm in a different place, I am running with a pair off cut-off shorts on
Climbing the stone wall around my front yard,
I stretched my arm and ate the chestnut from the tree next door!
Hooo---
Living Creatures are also eatible food
The bird that ate the bug that ate the flower that ate the poo is soaring through the sky
And even the Okonomiyaki that I just put in my mouth
AWA AWA AWA AWA WAThe grass that the cow ate
AWA
And it also has a scallop
AWA
Even eggplants are inside it
AWA
And there's also ginger inside it
I think that Space is a big O (circle),
though it has a question mark stuck onto it
On this planet one life eats another life, then someday another new life will come to life
Hooo---
By the way, it must be Wednesday today
Oops, gotta hurry, I'm going to be late for my 'tai chi chuan'(lessons)
Running on a taxi-cab, I tip-toe through the door of my judo training hall, and there I found ....
AWA AWA AWA AWA WA5 Giant Cats
AWA AWA AWA AWA WAAre coming after me
I ate the pig that ate the bird that ate the worm that ate the apple that ate the poo...
Aristotle said Space was a rhino
Pharaohs said that it was a hippo
My grandma says Space is an eyeball
The Science teacher says, I don't know
Professor Hawlking says Space is a big curve
Melissa says it's a giant mac
My boyfriend says Space is a bunkbed
I think that Space is a big O (circle)
-------------"AFTER GIRL"
-------------"Like A Virgin" from "That Live"
Riyu Konaka
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--------------------------------------------Artist. ----------
I spent my childhood in Chicago and New York City, and started music after I returned to Japan. I came back to Japan in Junior High, and the differences between the two cultures built the basis of my thoughts. In my American classroom, were African, Phillipino, Israeli, Dutch, Korean, Chinese … children with different cultural backgrounds. It was a unique and powerful environment, and I felt I sort of saw an ideal society. I like to place myself in an atmosphere with conflicting personalities and senses of values hopefully forming a much greater harmony. Because it’s much more of a challenge, and besides, it’s too boring if we’re all the same.
I hope to take away the many borders, like gender, age, and nationalities.
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Artist. Musician.
Started learning piano from three, graduated Osaka University, finished Simultaneous Interpreter's School.
1996. Debut album "Hiccups" released from poet, artist and producer, Bun Onoe's independent label "Good Humor". The CD was produced by his spoken word music team "Boy Mets Girl" (Bun Onoe + Shinobu Imai), and collaborated with organ trio Medeski, Martin and Wood, and guitarist Marc Ribot, with Hiroyasu Yaguchi's Brass Group.
1997-98. N.Y. Recording Series - "A Funny Egg"(1997) "oops!"(1997) "Hokey-Dokey"(1998) released by Polystar Records - Good Humor. Musicians: Marc Ribot, Sebastian Steinberg, Yuval Gabay, Charlie Giordano, Peter Scherer, the Jazz Passengers.
1999. Maxi Single "Bullshit", Image Song for N.Y.I.F.F.M. (N.Y. Independent Feature Film Market) in Japan, released from Polystar Records. Riyu also participated in Carrie Ansell's movie "flushed" with the Opening & Ending Theme for the "flushed" video (Japanese version) .
2000. 1st Full-Length Album "Riyu's Album", released from Polystar Records - Good Humor. Best selection of sessions recorded from 1995 - 1999 with great musicians that Riyu respects. New Re^Mastering + 1 Bonus Track, 14 Tracks in all. 1.37 Year Old Baby 2.Hiccups 3.Miniature Barbie 4.A Funny Egg 5. A Dog's Feelings 6.SPACE IS A BIG O (circle) 7.Oops, oops 8.Shimi Jimi 9.At The Seashore 10.Grandma Is A Girl 11.Life Is A Movie Theater With Lots Of Laughter 12.Engawa 13.The Summers In Evanston 14.A Walk (instrumental)
2003. 1st Live DVD+CD "That Live" released from Good Humor.
2004. 1st Multi Language Poetry Book "Messing Up Japanese" (Shichosha Publishings).
2005. Bilingual Short Story"Tooth Fairies" (Gunzo magazine).
2006 Live Album "flushed tour", Maxi Single "AFTER GIRL", Maxi Single "Our Children's Room When I Was Six", Mini Album onomatopoeia "Voice Cartoons: Are Baby Squirrels Shy, Too?", released from Good Humor. She also participated with English voclas in compilation CD "aloha chill", released from Pony Canyon Records. New Album "After Girl" includes songs about the future - "AFTER GIRL"(after man 5 million years away), "Mommy For President"(the first president of Planet Earth), "My Clones", etc. Produced, composed, mixed & edited by riyu. Lyrics by riyu / riyu and Bun Onoe. Arranged by Osamu Matsumoto, Shin Kono, Shinobu Imai and riyu. 2007. Guest Vocals on Turkish Anadolu-Pop founder, Murat Ses's album "umami"(clou- released in the U.S.A, Europe, Turkey). Live performances with Japanese Jazz pianist, Takeshi Shibuya. 2008."The Fish In The Deep Sea Water Probably Gives Out A Deep Sigh" (poem by Bun Onoe, reading+translation by Riyu) will be included in five star luxury hotel 'Danai Beach Resort' in Greece - Compilation Album "DANAI Lounge" (released in Greece in July 2008 / produced by Benoit Cassar).
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Grandma Is A Girl
(Poem by. Bun Onoe & Riyu / Compose by. Riyu)
In the morning, the big nipple screams
"Let's go out and dig some worms" bzzz-bzzz-bzzz-bzzz
Kila-kila, the sky was holding little shovels and laughter
Me and grandma, we climbed up to the hills,
Where all the hippies' tents were camping, mm.. fluffy clouds
Hyuru-Hyuru, we heard a magical voice calling UFOs
The sun was slowly setting when, we reached Hudson River bridge ,
Grandma breathed through her nose, soo-soo
Obaachan is a little girl from 1 to 100, she is she
All big girls are tiny planets, instead of scolding her grandchild, she wants to play
Kick the stone-heads, my nose is HIP&FUNKY,
Don't forget the indie spirit, she always says
Like fashion, hairstyles and rules change, very easily
Forests that wind to the sky, snails move in the purple light,
I was born on a funny egg
I am zero, and I am a hundred, from baby to grandma, I'm called me
Out in space, a thousand balls are talking about the human beings, on the phone
Forests that wind to the sky, snails move in the purple light,
I was born on a funny egg
Obaachan is a little girl from 1 to 100, she is she
All big girls are tiny planets
To be honest , rasing kids are a bother, harty har
Obaachan is a little girl from 1 to 100, she is she
She can't tell who Pythagoras is, but
She sure can tell when kids are hungry, Hyuru-Hyuru
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------Good HUMOR TV [Bilingual Intervuews]---------------New Compilation CD Release from GREECE 'DANAI Lounge' CM-----------------------------------
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-----Good Humor TV ------------info: Good Humor http://www18.ocn.ne.jp/~riyuhi/ --------------
E-Mail: riyuhip@feel.ocn.ne.jp -----------------------Fan Club http://riyukonakafansite.weebly.com/index.html ------------------------------------------------------
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