I was sent a link to a song to learn hiragana and katakana this morning. The sender didn’t put a name but the song’s website says it’s by Danny, Janet and Alyssa. Strangly there appears to be no link to the actual song on that site.
As far as I know the Japanese don’t have a Japanese alphabet song like we have the A B C song in the states. It’s possible they do and I’ve just never heard it.
This is my favorite one. It’s by Pizzicato Five. If you want the whole thing it’s the last track on Ca Et La Du Japon.
I actually like that CD but it’s pretty different from Pizzicato Five’s normal stuff. Fashion People is kind of a turn off with lyrics like “Fashion people are beautiful people, Fashion people are special people, I wanna be a friend of Fashion people”. but is arguably part of what Pizzicato Five and many Japanese women are about.
And, I’m still not sure what the meaning of “In America” is with words like “In American work is work, play is play. In American yes means yes, no means no. In American they even wash their face with Coke-a-Cola” but it’s a cool song never the less.
Greggman hello.
About the A B C song in Japanese that you’ve never heard. Well, there is one and it’s called ” a i u e o uta”. I don’t know the tune, but this is one of the first things that I learned during my first non-credit class.
That teacher instructed from Japanese children’s elementary school books. When I find the paper with the words to the song, I’ll gladly email them to you (in Japanese) if you wish.
This blog is great! I love dropping by to see what’s up.
Regards
Gotta agree that Pizzicato Five’s “aiueo” being the best! That’s what came to mind when seeing your entry’s title. It’s actually a cover of Happy End.
“In America” is a song from a film musical called 「君も出世ができる」 (1964). If I recall right, a new American boss arrives in a Japanese company and the company learns the american way.
Greggman, here’s the song and link. After you listen to it, email me at
songsterhiragana@gmail.com and let me know what you think. I want to hear the Pizzacato Five song now too. I didn’t know about that one.
My song is a dance tune, novelty song, goofiness with a serious intent. This is just version 2. We will get the final version down soon in the LA studio and rock the world.
To see the words go here:
http://hiraganasong.blogspot.com
The Hiragana Song
by Danny Bloom
When a foreigner sits down to start learning Japanese, he or she must prepare to learn three writing (and reading) systems: kanji (the old Chinese characters) and hiragana and katakana, two modern sound syllables that make it easier for young people to first pick up their mother tongue. Foreigners also can use hiragana and katakana to pick up some Japanese, and if you really study hard and become a fluent speaker of nihongo, more power to you.
Meanwhile, as a gesture of international goodwill, I created a simple, silly song for beginning learners of hiragana and katakana, just to put you in the mood. This version is actually a pre-pre-release version of a song-still-in-progress titled “The [Learning] Hiragana Song.” I jotted down the lyrics a year ago after thinking for years about how Westerners learn the hiragana and katakana syllables, and how a simple silly song might help. In its own minor way, of course.
The intent of this novelty song ― which of course still has a long way to go before it becomes a really listenable song ― is to give beginning learners of Japanese in the West, in the UK and USA and Australia, a fun activity to get them started or to raise their interest in between real classroom learning.
Give it a listen at
http://www.archive.org/details/hirigana_prelim
You can follow along with the words in the song at
The Hiragana Song blog.
A friend in New York commented: “Nice. My office-mate says it sounds like Sesame Street meets J-Pop.”
http://www.archive.org/details/hirigana_prelim
She forgot the ‘n’!
Here is link for final version of song, on iTunes soon
http://goodnightkiss.com/hiragana.html
Hello Greggman!
The original of the song ‘a-i-u-e-o’ is the one by Happy End back in 1971. It is also the last and quite a short (32 sec) song of their 2nd album ‘Kaze-machi Roman’. For the info on Happy End, please refer to the following link on JP version of Wikipedia (hope this works…).
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%81%AF%E3%81%A3%E3%81%B4%E3%81%84%E3%81%88%E3%82%93%E3%81%A9
regards!
what are u doing there?!
The original dance track, Hiragana Song IS posted at Goodnight Kiss Music under “Hiragana Song” http://www.goodnightkiss.com/hiragana.html
It was started as a co-write in 2004, copyrighted as a completed song (and registered with BMI) in 2005. The record copyright was posted with its official release date in 2006.
The pros that worked on this record include Art Munson, famous guitarist that worked with about everyone from John Lennon on. The singer is 16 year old Alyssa Collins in Canada. Dan Bloom (Taiwan) is the lyricist, Janet Fisher (CA, USA) is the melody writer and record producer. Adam A. Johnson, (VI, USA) is the co-arranger and executed the basic track before sweetening. It was a wonderful effort, and great finished record! It’s also been on iTunes since Dec. 2006 under “Hiragana Song.”
LOVE THIS RECORD!
Mary