Born on Amami Ōshima, Kagoshima Prefecture in 1980, Atari Kousuke was inspired by Hajime Chitose in his high school years due to her unique style of singing, known as shima-uta. This particular style of singing is grounded in a specific technique, which requires the singer to suddenly raise an octave when vowels are sung on a specific scale. This technique is often found in various kinds of Japanese folk music and also in traditional Japanese music.
In earlier years, as many folk artists do, Kousuke decided to focus on a purely local career, signing with Ryukyu label, Jabara Records, and working with locally recognized Tsuboyama Yutake. His debut album Kousuke, released in 1999, focused solely on the shima-uta style with Kousuke accompanying his vocal performance with the jabisen (also known as a sanshin), the Okinawa variation of the shamisen. Refining his mastery of shima-uta, he went on to win two local prizes in 2000, taking both the Amami Folk Song Grand Prix's 'New Member Award' and the Japanese Folk Song Association Award.
Following his initial success, Kousuke worked on his performing talent for the next five years. Within those five years, he had multiple album releases, collaborations on folk compilations and had several live performances. One performance in particular was for the Ryukyu Festival in 2005 at the Osaka Dome.
The desire to gain a new audience drove Kousuke to broaden his musical horizon and open himself to the pop music influence. This new influence became evident in his following albums with the jabisen accompanied by other instruments such as the guitar, violin and ukulele. He released his first mini-album in 2005, Materia, when he signed under the label Day! Records, another label specializing in the shima-uta style. Despite the change in his musical direction, Kousuke continued to apply specific shima-uta vocal techniques to his work, offering a blend of music styles closer to his main inspiration, Hajime Chitose.
Materia was recognized as an experimental album in which Kousuke covered songs by artists such as Mariah Carey and Yamazaki Masayoshi. Arguably, some of his fans from the beginning may have been disappointed by the sudden change in musical direction, but with this change came a new audience. With 7,000 copies sold, Materia became the fifth highest selling Indie pop album of 2005.
With many major labels scouting for new talent around that period, it was no surprise when Epic Records, a branch from Sony Music, latched onto Kousuke's talent. With this new backing, Kousuke's first major single Sore zore ni was released in the Spring of 2006. The influence of shima-uta returned on this single, with the ballad centering heavily on this style unlike his previous album. Despite some heavy promoting on Kousuke's part, with both live performances in stores and radio collaborations, his popularity within Japan was not yet secured. Surprisingly perhaps, success for this budding young artist comes from neighboring countries.
Sore zore ni was later covered by Hong Kong singer Andy Lau and was used for the Taiwanese movie Rainbow Seven. Touted for his good looks, Kousuke also starred in the movie, another promotional stunt that gained him popularity overseas. Kousuke's second single was released in June and is his only Double-A sided single to date.
The rapidity of Kousuke's releases failed to slow down with the release of his first major mini-album in October, Natsukasha no shima, which offers all new songs and a Chinese/Japanese duet with singer Hanxue titled Kioku -Last Forever-. Moreover, Sony Music then focused its attention of promoting Kousuke outside of the Japanese market, in particular to his Taiwanese fanbase, with the release of an exclusive album for his Chinese speaking fans. Chung Dong Xin Xian included Kousuke's previous works alongside a cover of Wang Lee Hom. This compilation sells particularly well in the Asian charts, reaching first place in the Yahoo Music charts in Taiwan. In December of the same year, Kousuke traveled to Taipei and Kazan for performances alongside Daniel Potter at the event Simple Life.
In April 2007, Kousuke arrived back in Japan for the release of his third single, Hana. Epic Records, seeing the success that the young artist has attracted overseas, attracts mass media attention when it is released to the public that Moriyama Naotaro is to be the composer of the title track of the single. To date Hana has become Kousuke's most popular single, selling more than 34,000 copies and reaching 20th position on the Oricon charts.
Kousuke's first full-length original album is set for release in July 2007 and will include all four of the single tracks that were released since his major label debut. Kousuke will also be partaking in his first live tour in September and with such a unique voice, attractive looks and a strong fanbase in Asian countries, we can safely say that this young artist is one to keep tabs on over the next few years.
