Hapa Japan Concert 2017 Recap
By Anna Lipscomb ‘19
From February 22-26, the Japanese American National Museum and USC hosted the 2017 Hapa Japan Festival for the Los Angeles community. The festival featured events such as film screenings, discussions, and performances to celebrate multicultural voices and identities.
I had the opportunity to attend the Hapa Japan concert featuring Kina Grannis, Marié Digby, Kris Roche, and Andy Suzuki & the Method.
(Photo credit: Hapa Japan)
The Artists
Grannis is a USC alum who graduated in 2007 with a BA in Psychology. She produced her first album, Sincerely, Me, through USC Thornton School of Music. She won the 2008 Doritos Crash the Super Bowl contest with her song “Message from Your Heart”. Her acoustic pop style has attracted over 1.1 million subscribers to her Youtube channel, where she posts original songs and song covers. She’s released five studio albums, the most recent being Elements (2014).
Digby was among the first music artists to rise to fame through Youtube. One of her most famous covers is “Umbrella” by Rihanna, which has garnered over 22 million views. Embracing her half-Japanese roots, she released her album Second Home (2009) in Japan and contained covers of songs sung in Japanese. Her most recent album is Chimera (2014). She has collaborated with other artists such as Clara C, Jason Chen, and Kina Grannis.
Kris Roche was born and raised in Kyoto, Japan. He moved to the United States to study and perform music in college. He released two EPs: Anything But Alone (2009) and Tails of Bufflebear (2010). His first full album, Be Love, was released in 2013. He has returned to Japan to pursue his music career in Tokyo, where he hopes to “provide a borderless musical experience for open minds, open hearts, and most importantly, open ears”.
Andy Suzuki is the lead singer of Andy Suzuki & The Method. The band was formed in New York, and they have released four albums: 300 Pianos (2009), The Ghost Stories EP (2012), Born out of Mischief (2013), and The Glass Hour (2017). They’ve been on tour with artists such as Ringo Starr, Amanda Palmer, and Marc Broussard, and have performed at multiple events and tours.
The Concert
Mario Digby started the show with a cover of a soft, sweet song called “When You Say Nothing At All”. As she prepared for her next song, she talked to the audience and asked them for advice about her life. She played her original song “Say it Again”, which was a light and fun tune about the first time someone tells you they’re in love. Before playing another original called “Jet Streams”, she gave the backstory of the song. She was on a songwriting retreat with Kina Grannis and other artists and they took turns writing in different rooms of a house. When she was writing in the backyard, she looked up and was inspired by seeing jets crossing paths in the sky. She ended her act with her famous cover of “Umbrella”, encouraging the audience to clap and sing along to the chorus.
(Photo Credit: Anna Lipscomb)
Kris Roche performed after Marié. He started with his song “Be Loved”. Roche told the audience that this was his first show in Los Angeles, which made the audience cheer. Then, he played “Life on Hold” from his Be Loved album. The chorus is still stuck in my head - “the more I see, the less I know. The more I love, it’s getting harder to let go”. His songs hold universal messages and themes about love and life, yet his style contains influences from his multicultural background and experiences. This was especially true when he impressed the audience with his bilingual song “Kimino Okage” in English and Japanese.
(Photo credit: Anna Lipscomb)
Before taking the stage, Andy Suzuki & The Method’s music video for “Born out of Mischief” was played on the screen. It was a sweet song about his mother and his childhood, and contained old video footage of Andy Suzuki and his parents when he was growing up. This, however, was just the beginning. they performed “I Need You More” and “Shelter”. The last song the band played together on stage was “Dirty Floor”. They put a lot of energy into this song. Andy Suzuki danced and moved around the stage, interacting with the band and the audience. At one point, he even threw his jacket into the crowd. After this song, the rest of the band left the stage and Andy Suzuki finished by playing the keyboard and singing “Let it Be”.
(Photo Credit: Anna Lipscomb)
Kina Grannis was the final artist to perform. This was her second time playing at a Hapa Japan Concert (the first time was in 2013). She started with “Dear River”, followed by a cover of “Can’t Help Falling in Love” (which she recently covered on her Youtube channel). My personal favorite was when she played her original “In Your Arms”. Listening to the song remained me of the creative music video she made for it that used half a million jellybeans. In between songs, she would tune her guitar and talk with the audience. She sang her song “Winter”, which had a sad yet hauntingly beautiful tone. Kina Grannis then excited the audience with an acoustic cover of “Oops, I Did it Again” - I prefer her version to the original. She also sang her song “Little Worrier”, which was about worrying too much. Given that many of the students in attendance are in the midst of midterms, I thought this song offered well-timed comfort and inspiration. Her final song was “Valentine” (another one of my favorite songs by her), which was a perfect end to the night.
After Kina’s performance, all of the performers came back onto stage to take a bow and receive the audience’s wild applause for their phenomenal performances and dedication to the hapa community.
(Photo credits: Anna Lipscomb)
Want more from Trojans 360?
Visit Trojans 360 on Facebook & Twitter to stay up to date with more student content!
You can also Ask A Trojan an anonymous question, and we’ll try to answer it in a future post!
