Hietsuki Bushi

This music video by Omodaka blends a composition by Soichi Terada, based on the Miyazaki Prefecture folk song Hietsuki Bushi, with a colorful hand-drawn animation by Ryo Hirano. With visuals based on the theme of “agriculture and space” set to a composition featuring a unique beat and the distinctive vocals of folk singer Akiko Kanazawa, this visual expresses fantastic imagery that transcends time and space. A mystical world in which nostalgia and whimsy coexist is born.

A rich image world, from farming to space, depicted by folk songs
Among the many music video submissions, Omodaka’s Hietsuki Bushi earned praise for its especially fresh appeal. The music is based on the “Hietsuki-bushi,” a work song sung when threshing barnyard millet for use as food. The video develops two strange parallel stories, forcibly bringing together the mismatched pair of a typical post-war folk song reflecting the Showa period and an adolescent, bettersweet love story about handing a love letter. It is filled with hooks that encourage multiple viewings: the lion-like character bumps into the woman doing farm work, the characters assemble after passing back and forth across multiple dimensions, and then we return to the world of the couple-like characters. Omodaka deserves high praise for its courage in discovering this talented young artist who followed through with such a complex composition, and for its bold effort to merge techno-folk and innovative image.