The man arrived on time.
His name is Hiroki Iwafune.
A small, fashionable boy who looks like he could be anywhere at first glance.
but
In their eyes you can't help but feel something somehow different from the others.
What it is.
We don't know at the moment.
Where he came from.
Who he is.
Where is he headed?
Today I want to listen to you frankly.
Interview with Hiroki Iwafune.
The interview was conducted at Irohani-do, Uchino, Nishi-ku, Niigata City.
Please briefly introduce yourself.
I am a singer-songwriter born and living in Urawa, Saitama. Now I am based in Saitama, Niigata and Fukushima. I come to Niigata every month!
How did you get into music?
When I was in the third year of junior high school, I was impressed by the line 'Let's talk with music, let's pass over words... with the music (words) of this earth (hoshi)...' from the beginning of the CD album 'Music' by the folk duo '19'. This is when I started to think that I wanted to convey my thoughts through music, not just through ordinary conversation.
How did you come to work in Niigata?
When I was a university student, I met my current music agent Eiji Hirata (MUSIC DROP) and he invited me to an event in Niigata. I felt like I was on the same wavelength as the music scene in Niigata, and this year marks the fifth year since I started coming to Niigata.
Ms Iwafune also sings the character theme song "Tetto Tetto - Tetto-kun no Theme" for Television Niigata TeNY. Please tell us the story behind its creation.
I was runner-up in TeNY's 'Audition Battle' programme, and just that year a character called 'Tetto-kun' was created, and I won the competition for its theme song and was chosen to sing it.
The description of the scenery in the lyrics was created with a particular image of the beautiful scenery of Niigata, such as the mountains, the sea and the sunset. I was once taken to the Sasagawa Nagare (Sasagawa Stream) and the waves I saw there were so beautiful. The image is like the sun's rays shimmering on the waves.
The sky was also beautiful and I had never seen such a sky in Saitama. So in the song, let's go with Tetto-kun to find once more the beautiful and wonderful things about Niigata that you can't realise if you just look at it everyday! This is the theme of the song. In addition to that, we decided to make it a song that everyone from small children to the elderly can sing along to, and that's how we came up with the song we're singing now.
Also, backstory, in the current theme song, the part "â™" is the chorus, but the first idea was to put "â™" in the B-melody "â™" where "â™" is in the B-melody "â™". I liked it, but it was rejected by someone involved in the production at the time (laughs).
You have sold around 2,000 independently produced CDs so far.
All the songs I was writing in high school were love songs, but when I looked back on them in my senior year of high school, I felt they were kind of flimsy, and I wanted to think more about different things and write songs that could be received by different people.
So since then, I have been writing songs with the theme of [songs that convey the idea of being alive now] in my mind. Nowadays, that interpretation has become [To live is to go forward], and I make support songs to move forward.
This year, 2016, we are also rethinking our theme once more. [When you feel alive is when you care about something or someone important] and I feel that [to care about something is to feel alive], so that's the theme I'm writing about this year.
What are some of the things you would like to do in the future?
I want to do something a bit outside of what I think I can do, and I want to challenge myself. I feel that by doing so, I can move myself forward and something new will come out of it.
I also have everyone who has been supporting me since I came to Niigata, so I want to show them the results of my work in a tangible way.
So we are planning to hold a one-man show in autumn this year at a live house in Niigata that can hold up to 300 people. We will come to Niigata for that and live in Niigata in September ‼︎ (laughs).
By living in Niigata for a month, I think I will be able to get to know a Niigata that I don't know, and I would like to find out what I can do with my music. Also, by living in Niigata, I would like to connect with many different people and become a part of the inner circle of Niigata people.
In September I will be a resident of Niigata Prefecture, so I will be cycling in many places!
This year there will be more opportunities to see Hiroki Iwafune in various places in Niigata.
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Hiroki Iwafune, lyrics and composition, live performance video (filmed during interview).
 Polaris
 I can't do this.
Profile of Hiroki Iwafune
Born in Saitama Prefecture
Height: 163 cm Weight: 47 kg
Singer-songwriter active in Saitama, Niigata and Fukushima.
He started playing guitar when he entered high school and began writing lyrics after only six months.
After graduating from university, she released her first mini-album 'Sinigng Life' and began her career in earnest.
In 2012, he won the Grand Prix at the Niigata Furumachi Music Festival, and the following year wrote the lyrics to TV Niigata's character theme song 'Tetto Tetto - Tetto-kun no Theme', which was broadcast on air.
So far, they have sold about 2,000 independently produced CDs, and in 2013 they successfully held one-man shows in the Kanto and Niigata regions, steadily expanding their field of activities.
In January 2014, he became a hot topic when he performed as the opening act for Sugashikao.
In August 2014, she performed at the Niigata venue of the '24 Hour TV: Love Saves the Earth', and in autumn 2015, she released her second national release, a mini-album.
The hottest singer of the moment, who always performs with her whole heart and soul.
Homepage.
[Photo and video Supported by MUSIC DROP].
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