ABOUT

Makoto Kubota was born in Kyoto.

He began plying his trade in a band called, “Hadaka no Rallies”, which went on to become the now-legendary, “Les Rallizes Dénudés”. (A limited edition of 5000 CDs of their 1st demo was released in 1991） Kubota started recording his 1st solo album, the folk-tinged, "Machiboke" for Toshiba EMI in 1973. His backing-band eventually became “Yuuyake Gakudan”, a.k.a. the Sunset Gang, and the band began writing, recording ＆ releasing numerous strong-selling albums. In the live arena, they opened the bill for such world-renowned ＆ respected artists as Eric Clapton and Levon Helm, gaining much audience support who were enthused by their euphoric vibes. In the late 70`s, Kubota introduced Okinawa's cult hero, “Shokichi Kina”, to mainland Japan and recorded ＆ produced his 2nd album, "Bloodline", featuring Kina's band Champloose with musical assistance from none other than Ry Cooder. In the 80`s, the Sunset Gang became “Sunsetz”, and started touring in the UK, Europe, Australia and North America opening for acts such as Japan,Talking Heads, Eurythmics, INXS, the Neville Bros., Los Lobos, The Pretenders, etc. 

In the 90`s, Kubota started working full-time producing such bands as the Boom, Monday Michiru, Dick Lee, and Elvie Sukaesih, to name but a few. He also produced the Indonesian version of, "Moliendo Cafe", which went on to become a million seller, also becoming the biggest selling “DangDut” song of the 90`s. Kubota also worked as the music director for Amon Miyamoto's stage musical, "MAUI", in `95. After a short break to gather stock, he returned in `99 to team up with Haruomi Hosono, (of YMO fame), and together they recorded an album called "HARRY ＆ MAC" –which saw him embark, once again, on a successful career as a rock singer-songwriter. The following year, (2000), saw him write ＆ record his very well-received solo album, "ON THE BORDER", which includes a memorable session with The Band's Levon Helm and Garth Hudson. He also performed on the tour for Hosono's "Tin Pan”, album. In 2001 Kubota teamed up with Yoichi Ikeda, and Mac Chew ＆ Jenny Chin from Malaysia on the “Blue Asia” project. To date, this has produced a series of releases. All the albums were selected for national airplay by European radio DJs and also featured heavily in the top rankings on numerous world music charts in Europe. "HOTEL BANGKOK" was selected as CD of the Month on BBC by Charlie Gillett and also became one of the top 10 CDs as chosen by the Guardian newspaper, (UK). Many of the Blue Asia project`s songs have featured on the world famous “Putumayo” record label's compilations, e.g., "WORLD LOUNGE" and "ASIAN LOUNGE". Other tracks from Blue Asia have also featured on various compilation CDs on record labels spanning the globe. 

Moreover, Makoto Kubota has recorded several albums under his own name and produced albums by many other artists. Aside from compiling King Record's Cafe Series v/a CDs, he has compiled several other notable albums including 2 CDs of rare North-Eastern Brazil music entitled "Nordeste Atomico" and "Deep Samba". He also compiled several CDs for the music of Miyakojima, Tarama and Hateruma Jima. *Writing his first book, “Visiting the Sounds of the World”. Published by prestigious Japanese literary house, Iwanami Shoten, in 2006. ll*Also DJ-ing; penning or producing TV-CM music; concert planning for corporate events; music programming for numerous radio programs; the designing sound systems for music venues; participating in arts-based TV talk shows; giving lectures. He co-produced the documentary film called "Sketches of Myahk" and the film received a formal invitation to the Locarno International Film Festival and won a special mention from the judges. Kubota also produced the soundtrack for the Katsunori Otomo's recent animation film called "Hi no Yojin".