Electropop remix of the oldest Japanese song ever

This fun song featuring a dancing 8-bit skeleton is actually a remix of what is believed to be the oldest Japanese song in the world. The song is called Kokoriko Bushi, meaning tune of a kokoriko–an ancient string instrument. The artist is Japanese electro-pop collective Omodaka of Far East Recordings; the animation is directed by Teppei Maki. If you like how it sounds, there's another fun video on TokyoMango today. (Thanks, Matt!)

( Lisa Katayama is a guest blogger.)

• [Maurik]

  its fun :)

• [Peter Swimm]

  I now see chiptunes and autotune have been a scourge for decades.

• [GarrieB]

  Very nice… grateful too for the chance to hear the original!

  But re the techno-version: does anyone else hear a repeated use (the chorus?) of song that sounds like a Japanese version of Stevie Wonder’s “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout A Thing”?

• [onecooldan]

  ’bout time these guys got some recognition! If you like electropop, these guys will have you tapping your feet for the whole day.

• [Nelson.C]

  Antinous @6: Sorry about that. I was away, almost completely sans internet for a week or so, and I think I got a case of jamais vu over a perfectly normal english phrase. It wasn’t a complaint as such; I was thinking that someone would riff on Japan not being in the same world as the rest of us. I didn’t even notice that BB has acquired a new blogger. Sheesh, go away for a couple of days and everything changes….

• [Anonymous]

  I like Omodaka’s plum song
  http://www.japansugoi.com/wordpress/omodakas-plum-song/

• [Phikus]

  Damn. Beat me to it GARRIEB@11. I picked that out too, unmistakably. =D

  These guys have never heard of the Residents either, have they?

  Dig the “falling george bush” reference toward the end, too. Nice!

• [lordlic]

  Very interesting lol
  But wth with the eyeball & naked women fetish Oo

• [forgeweld]

  I think the subscript ‘(Lisa Katayama is a guest blogger)’ is in error. It should read: (Lisa Katayama is the best blogger.)

• [GrumpyOldMan]

  Apropos of nothing, cocorico (pronounced the same way as the Japanese) is what roosters say in French (or at least the French transliteration). I really did a double take.

• [Porori]

  I think that you meant kokiriko – which isn`t a string instrument at all. It`s a rhythm instrument.
  It`s something along the lines of a maraca in terms of the sound it makes.
  The melody of Kokiriko Bushi comes from the singing, not the instrument.

• [Anonymous]

  @Garrieb
  You’re right. Seriously, the aaa-aaa-aaa-etc chorus is basically Stevie Wonder’s Don’t You Worry About A Thing.

• [ployntabs]

  I dunno, I’m hearing Stevie Wonder’s Golden Lady.

• [Mark Frauenfelder]

  Wonderful!

  Ub Iwerks would be proud:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkhxjzc9uuE

• [Mingross]

  Most excellent. Anything that feeds my 8-bit/chiptune/vg music obsession is always welcome.

• [Nelson.C]

  “Oldest Japanese song in the world”? Does this imply that Japan is not in the world? Or that a Japanese song is more likely to be found “in the world” than in Japan?

• [Lisa Katayama]

  #3: I just like using superlatives as long as they’re not wrong. :)

• [Mingross]

  #3:

  WTF?

  Japan is part of the world, and the oldest song originating in the part of the world known as Japan is therefore the oldest Japanese song in the world. What’s so difficult about that?

• [Antinous]

  We seem to be in the midst of an upsurge of usage complaints. It’s off topic.

• [Takuan]

  no strings in kokoriko

  http://domain1164266.sites.fasthosts.com/uploads/images_products/1113.jpg

• [ornith]

  The funky boutique eyewear place where I got my (totally awesome) glasses uses people with eyeballs for heads as mascots, just like the ones in this video. Also eyeball-flowers and such. The place has won awards/been in magazines for its strange eyeball based decor.

• [Phikus]

  PLOYNTABS@18: Same album, wrong track. Go listen again. =D

• [azrael]

  Sweet! I know what I’m listening to for the rest of the day. :D

  Also, here is a page with the original Kokiriko Bushi along with other Japanese folk songs:

  http://www.gokayama.jp/english/heritege/music.html

  Also cool in its own right, methinks.

• [Dewi Morgan]

  And “8-bit” is the new superlative for “greyscale”, I see. Though elsewhere I’ve seen it used for “low-res, low-colour” (like the “8-bit tie”, which is really a 2-bit tie, given it has only 4 colours including transparency)