Shounannokaze member and solo reggae singer HAN-KUN will release his first cover album on May 29th.
Titled Musical Ambassador, it will feature 12 tracks. These will include an intro and covers of 11 classic J-pop songs from the Showa and Heisei eras that he personally selected. He will be covering famous tracks from artists such as WANDS, Spitz, Mr.Children, MONGOL800 and T-BOLAN. The release dates of the original songs range from Sakamoto Kyu's 1962 hit Ue o muite arukou to Kiritani Kenta's Umi no koe, which just came out in 2016.
HAN-KUN stated that he wants to connect Japanese and Jamaican music with this release, and that he also wants to introduce songs that he has listened to over the years to younger fans in a new form so that they can enjoy them as well. It was also mentioned that almost all of the tracks were recorded in Jamaica.
The album will be available in two editions. The limited edition will come with a bonus DVD featuring footage from his one-man live 10th Anniversary Show Case“SUPA DUPA FLY”, which was held at Shibuya WOMB on November 9th last year. The regular edition will be CD-only.
This will be HAN-KUN's first new solo album in about two years and his first release since transferring over to Universal Music.
A preview of his take on MONGOL800's Anata ni can be viewed below.
HAN-KUN also recently appeared on the talk show "music monster" to promote the release. The full video is available for streaming on YouTube for a limited time.
