Kupuwale Music Garden

Kobe, Japan


This is what I call a real band. They are incredibly hard working -- since they got together in about 1993, they have put out about TWENTY albums (which I can really appreciate since my group is still struggling with number 1!), and play constantly, though I get the feeling they're not really raking in the megabucks for this. The most incredible thing is that they have shown themselves to be truly Spirit-Over-Success, a very rare trait that wins my admiration more than anything. The video below shows them playing for victims of the 1995 earthquake in Kobe. A fast-rising band at the time, they broke their record contract with Sony to play on the streets for the earthquake victims and to speak out about the lack of government support for the ethnic minorities and economically disadvantaged in the area. This song, Mangetsu No Yube (Full Moon Evening), was writen for the earthquake victims. Personally, I think it is one of the most beautiful songs ever written, period.



Here's the "studio" version of the song.


Here's a bunch of clips of them playing on a "regular" stage...







Here's a "documentary" news clip (which I cannot understand whatsoever but is interesting enough to watch anyway):


Speaking of documentaries, here's one on the band playing in East Timor. Note that they cover "The Internationale" in Japanese!



& here's another "historical" clip, from when they first got together as an "acid rock" band...



...& I'm just gonna include this one because I love this song so much:


Some Links:
Soul Flower Official Wesite
Soul Flower Union Wikipedia Page