Petty Booka

The Japanese female ukulele duo, Petty Booka, enjoyed one of the warmest audiences in this year's festival. They packed Elysium as part of the second Japan Nite, which mostly featured Japanese bands who wanted to rock, not twang.

The duo, backed by an Japanese acoustic guitar player and two gaijin on slide guitar and stand-up bass, covered traditional Hawaiian music, their own songs, including "Ukulele Lady," plus covers such as Pasty Cline's "I Fall to Pieces" and Blondie's "The Tide is High" -- all successfully.

Yes, they both really do play ukuleles, mostly with straight faces. Although it's difficult to imagine many people buying a CD of theirs and repeatedly listening to it, Petty Booka provided a stage show so cute and sweet that diabetics had to leave the room. The crowd, perhaps hypnotized by their leis and smiles, loved everything they said.

"We love Ow-stin," Petty and Booka took turns saying, which elicited loud whoops of appreciation from the audience - Cincinnati City Beat

Petty Booka
Press & Promotions



As part of their SXSW 2002 visit to Austin, Petty Booka played lived on 90.5 FM, KUT and performed an in-store show at Cheapos Disk to a large crowd of generous fans who bought every CD in the store!

The Hartford Courant
March 18, 2002

Musician On A Mission
Love Sounds Off At SXSW Forum

By ROGER CATLIN, Courant Rock Critic

AUSTIN, Texas -- The joy of the nation's biggest music conference, South by Southwest, is finding a new gem amid the nearly 1,000 acts playing what seems like every club, taco stand and coffeehouse in the music-mad Lone Star capital.

The right peek in the right out-of-the-way club at the right time can unearth some delicious finds including the Japanese duo Petty Booka, who sing Polynesian and pop harmonies while strumming ukuleles.

March 21, 2002




SXSW Picks
March 15, 2002:
PETTY BOOKA: This Tokyo-based ukulele duo is the latest all-girl act on Audrey Kimura's Benten label to make the jaunt to SXSW. Unlike punk-flavored Benten acts like Lolita No. 18 and Mummy the Peepshow, Petty Booka cuts a wide stylistic swath from punk to bluegrass with their lilting acoustic cover tunes.
(Elysium, 10pm) -- Greg Beets - Gret Beets

At the second Japan Night showcase, Petty Booka charm the pants off everyone. The ukulele duo perform Hawaiian versions of pop songs like "Pretty Little Baby," "Do You Wanna Dance," Gomez's "Whippin' Piccadilly" and "The Tide Is High." The serendipitous note is that after the Austin show, the girls head to their spiritual homeland, Hawaii, for two shows. - Todd Inoue

AUSTIN, Texas -- The joy of the nation's biggest music conference, South by Southwest, is finding a new gem amid the nearly 1,000 acts playing what seems like every club, taco stand and coffeehouse in the music-mad Lone Star capital.

The right peek in the right out-of-the-way club at the right time can unearth some delicious finds including the Japanese duo Petty Booka, who sing Polynesian and pop harmonies while strumming ukuleles. - ROGER CATLIN, Courant Rock Critic

Petty Booka is an engaging, if unusual, concept - two women singing and playing different genres of music on ukuleles. The duo first formed from the ashes of the all-girl punk band Flamingo A Go Go, which recorded for Benten Records in Japan and released one album in the United States. Petty was the singer in the band, and Booka was the guitarist. Flamingo A Go Go saw moderate popularity on the indies scene, but broke up in 1995. Their manager had already committed them to recording an acoustic cover version of Culture Club's ?gKarma Chameleon?h, and so Petty and Booka recorded the song as a duo with additional backing from the Japanese Hawaiian band called the Toconuts. This led to an entire album of Hawaiian music, Toconut?fs Hawaii, with the duo performing on ukulele in hula skirts and combat boots. The simple charm of their live performances helped spur surprisingly respectable sales on the CD. Their second album, Fujiyama Mama, continued with the basic duo concept, but this time in a country vein, including standards like ?gKaw-Liga?h, modern songs like Junior Brown?fs ?gMy Baby Don?ft Dance To Nothing But Ernest Tubb?h, and oddities, like ?gBorn To Be Wild?h given a bluegrass arrangement. The members also adopted a western wear look including cowboy hats, cowboy boots and jean shorts. The girls were ably backed by Japanese country players who helped to broaden their sound without overpowering them. The direction of Petty Booka was, and is, largely influenced by producer and western swing musician Hiroshi Asada, who has worked with the group throughout their career. Petty Booka returned to the Hawaiian sound for their next album, which was recorded with ace Hawaiian musicians including lounge legend Martin Denny. This was followed by a Christmas album, a dance album (including samba, bossa nova and other exotic beats) and an alternative country album with a cover parodying the Birds classic Sweetheart of the Rodeo. In 1997 Petty left the duo, and was replaced by a ?gnew?h Petty. In 2002 Booka also left to take care of her newborn son, and a friend from the a cappella group Candy Slugger was drafted to become the ?gnew?h Booka. Despite the lineup changes, the group continues to carry on without a hitch. They have toured in the United States a number of times, most recently in 2003 and 2004, and have plans to do so in 2005. Their English is not up to native speaker level, but their accents seem to only add to their appeal for overseas fans. They have met their heroes Wanda Jackson and Dan Hicks, played live on California's widely loved, and widely listened to on the internet, radio station KPIG, recorded with sumo superstar Konishiki, and are regulars in Hawaii and at Austin's SXSW, where in 2005 they are appearing for the fourth time. The duo generally go over very well in the States, and recently had a best-of CD of their Hawaiian material released on America?fs Weed Records. - Keith Kahoon