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Japanese Eleki and the Ventures Influence
In May 1962, American instrumental kings,
the Ventures, made the first of many tours of Japan. Japanese
teenagers immediately flipped over their sound and started forming instrumental
combos in the style of the Ventures.
When the Ventures returned to Japan in
January 1965 they had become household names and the impact of their music
on Japanese teenagers was enormous. Unhindered by the language barriers
inherent in performing American or British vocal music, hundreds of Eleki
(Japanese English for "electric," as in electric guitars) combos
sprung up all over the country.
Domestic guitar manufacturers such as Guya
couldn't keep up with the demand, so companies usually associated with other
industries such as Victor (better known as JVC in the U.S.) began producing
electric guitars. (Even a manufacturer of wooden clogs got in on the
act!) In 1965 760,000 guitars were made in Japan, a record that
has yet to be broken.
Yuzo Kayama and Takeshi Terauchi
Two guitarists of particular note who came
out of the Eleki Buumu (Eleki Boom) are Takeshi Terauchi and Yuzo Kayama.
Takeshi Terauchi's style is very
Ventures-influenced, but much faster and more frantic with a heavy picking
style and liberal use of his Mosrite guitar's whammy bar. Terauchi
is probably Japan's first guitar hero and he's continued recording and
touring through the years.
Yuzo Kayama first came to fame in 1961 as
the dashingly handsome young star of the "Wakadaisho" ("Young
General") series of teen films. Heavily influenced by the
Ventures he formed a backing group, the Launchers and started recording for
Toshiba Records.
In Yuzo Kayama's second "Wakadaisho"
film, the 1965 feature, "Eleki No Wakadaisho" ("The Young
General's Electric Guitar"), Kayama and Takeshi Terauchi perform together
backed by the Launchers and they really blast the place to pieces!
Two of Yuzo Kayama's best known
instrumentals, "Black Sand Beach" and "Yozora No Hoshi,"
were even covered by the Ventures, who were so impressed with Kayama and
the Launchers that they presented him with
one of their own signature-model Mosrite guitars! |
