Giri Giri Surf Rider / HALCALI

I think there are 2 types of popular music, endemic and ubiquitous. For example, Brigitte Fontaine is endemic. Her music is exclusively found in France like folklore. On the other hand, Françoise Hardy is ubiquitous. This kind of music is extending over the world and nobody knows the origin of this international format. In the same manner, Stina Nordenstam is unique in Sweden and the Cardigans has a cosmopolitan distribution. Of course, this sorting has nothing to do with artistic evaluation, and I guess it might be related to translatability. 

As for Japanese music scene, I would like to insist that HALCALI is endemic. To begin with, the band name “HALCALI” is very Japanese. It is the combination of members’ names, Halca (Haruka) and Yucali (Yukari). Do you know any other band whose name is portmanteau word like this? Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel cannot stand the unit name like “Simofunkel”. But Japanese linguistic magic turns everything into shortened form with 4 syllables.

   

“Giri Giri Surf Rider” is their 3rd single released in 2003. It is written, composed, and produced by Oshare Track Factory, which is the collaboration of Rip Slyme's Fumiya and Ryo-Z. (This collaboration is, so to speak, descended from Tomoe Shinohara and Takyu Ishino in 1990s.) “Giri Giri Surf Rider” is a “bubblegum” rap and has catchy melody, lighthearted mood, and fun lyrics. The simple off-beat reminds us of English female duo Shampoo’s “Trouble” (released in 1994).

   

I assume HALCALI is somewhat the polished version of Shampoo. They carefully removed Shampoo’s naughty taste and added shyness and self-parody instead. You might be able to catch a glimpse of the survival tips in the peer pressure society like Japan.

… Sense of shyness and self-parody.