Kokusyoku Sumire Gig in Harajuku!
^ Me and Kokusyoku Sumire! ♥ Man, I looked so derpily chuffed in this photo!
I was recently in Japan and was lucky enough to see the mysterious, beautifully surreal Lolita-inspired Japanese duo 'Kokusyoku Sumire' in a very intimate gig, held upstairs in a little room called 'Onden Gallery' in Harajuku (beneath a store called 'Alice in Tinyroom')!
( a framed illustration that was at the event commemorating 'Sumire no Tenmado' ; I ended up buying a printed scarf of it because it was so gorgeous!)
I had always wanted to visit their little cafe, 'Sumire no Tenmado' (where The Tim Burton has doodled across one of the walls) but unfortunately the cafe closed down early this year. I had almost given up hope seeing them, but luckily the girls are still doing small gigs and live shows here and there. So I wrestled with reserving a ticket in Japanese, managed to do it and off I went one Winter night to Harajuku!
The girls are really talented; their music eerie, haunting, exciting - think along the lines of a sound track to some demented, obscure version of Alice in Wonderland. Yuka and Sachi are absolutely masterful when it comes to singing and playing the accordion/violin (and Yuka's voice is so powerful, it makes shivers run down your spine!). They call themselves Neo-Classical musicians and, I feel, really invoke the spirit of Harajuku more than any 'idol' could. These girls, I felt, are true artists. The real deal.
The girls were lovely - they acknowledged us coming to the concert all the way from Australia, told some stories about Australia and called me up with them to hold a strange instrument for one of their songs ("This is Japanese instrument", they joked. ww)
^ Stole this picture from their twitter post ;D
We were lucky enough to sit in the first row ♥ and it was wonderful, because it was such an intimate live gig. There were about 30 people in the gallery space all up.
Afterwards Kokusyoku Sumire held photo time and posed with some pretty awesome, creepy (but cute) arty dolls (you can buy those awesome squeaky plastic doll maidens from Cabaret in Shibuya).
Because there's very little chance of finding their albums in JB Hifi in Australia, I ended up buying a lot of Kokusyoku Sumire swag (merch/their albums) upstairs at Alice in Tinyroom. Because it was Hinamatsuri (Japanese 'Girls Festival' event), it came with a super cute bag of free candy <3
And as thanks for my (kinda' extravagant...) purchase, the shopkeepers gave me a free postcard signed by Sacchi and Yuka! <3
Yee, autographs on the back! ♥
I ended up giving the girls a small envelope containing a card I'd drawn for them the night before... I hope they liked it!
If you're ever in Japan, I recommend hunting down Kokusyoku Sumire and listening to their live music. It's hauntingly beautiful, quirky and a completely different experience. It's not just entertainment, it's real art.
I want to go see them again! ♥ また黒色すみれのライブ見に行きたいなぁ！また来年も絶対行く！♪
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