''The Rough Guide to the Music of Japan'' is a world music

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

originally released in

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

. Part of the

World Music Network World Music Network is a UK-based record label specializing in world music. The World Music Network website features news, reviews, live music listings, and guide sections on world music. It also features an online "Battle of the Bands" compet ...

Rough Guides Rough Guides Ltd is a British travel guide book and reference publisher, which has been owned by APA Publications since November 2017. In addition to publishing guidebooks, the company also provides a tailor-made trips service based on customer ...

series, the album presents an eclectic mix of the

music of Japan In Japan, music includes a wide array of distinct genres, both traditional and modern. The word for "music" in Japanese language, Japanese is 音楽 (''ongaku''), combining the kanji 音 ''on'' (sound) with the kanji 楽 ''gaku'' (music, comfort). ...

ranging from

traditional Japanese music Traditional Japanese music is the folk or traditional music of Japan. Japan's Ministry of Education classifies as a category separate from other traditional forms of music, such as (court music) or (Buddhist chanting), but most ethnomusicolog ...

(including Ryukyuan and

Ainu music Ainu music is the musical tradition of the Ainu people of northern Japan. They did not have written words, so they have inherited the folklore and the laws conducted between ethnic orally such as tales and legends with music. The oral Ainu c ...

) to

J-pop J-pop ( ja, ジェイポップ, ''jeipoppu''; often stylized as J-POP; an abbreviated form of "Japanese popular music"), natively also known simply as , is the name for a form of popular music that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1 ...

by artists of the 1990s. Liner notes were written by Paul Fisher, a journalist and broadcaster specializing in Japanese music and founder of Far Side Music. Phil Stanton—co-founder of the World Music Network—produced the album. This release was followed by a second edition in 2008.

Critical reception

Alex Henderson of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

called the album an "interesting and eclectic survey" that, like other albums in the series, "keeps us guessing and provides a variety of rewarding music along the way".

Track listing

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rough Guide to the Music of Japan 1999 compilation albums World Music Network Rough Guide albums World music albums by Japanese artists