Hirokazu “Hip” Tanaka Finds 10 Guys With His Name, Releases New Single on HearJapan

Yes, Nintendo legend Hirokazu “Hip” Tanaka is back, and this time with a project that has nothing to do with videogames. “Tanaka Hirokazu No Uta,” or “Hirokazu Tanka Song,” is a short and unsurprisingly quirky single featuring the voice of Hip Tanaka himself along with 10 other dudes named Hip Tanaka. See the above video for maximum weirdness! It’s apparently all the rage in Japan right now. It’s a fun concept, and this announcement is made even more exciting by the fact that it’s being made available online a whole week ahead of the official Japanese release date of December 16, 2009. We haven’t heard from him since Super Smash Bros. Brawl where he arranged a few tracks for the game, so this is big news!

As it turns out, he’s teamed up with HearJapan, an online music store based in Japan that caters to an English-speaking audience. They’ve been around for two years and already have a massive catalog of videogame, anime, J-pop, chip, and even vocaloid music to supplement the standard rock, jazz, and classical releases. I can’t believe we haven’t heard of this site before, but we recommend heading over and checking out the Hip Tanaka single along with the rest of their catalog.

Do you have a favorite Hip Tanaka soundtrack from his early days at Nintendo? Will you be picking up his single, and what do you think of the rest of the music that HearJapan has to offer?

Check out the official press release regarding “Tanaka Hirokazu No Uta” from HearJapan after the jump.

Classic Nintendo Producer ‘Hip’ Tanaka

Yokohama, Japan – December 9, 2009 – The legendary Hirokazu “Hip” Tanaka, one of the biggest names in old-school 8bit video game music is now a part of the HearJapan library. His new single is exclusively available at Hear Japan a week before the official release date of December 16.

In fact, there are a grand total of eleven Hirokazu Tanaka’s on the new single from the master. Titled Tanaka Hirokazu no Uta (Hirokazu Tanaka Song), it features THE Hirokazu “Hip” Tanaka along with a chorus of ten more Hirokazu Tanakas. The music underlying the goofy men’s chorus is just as playful and memorable as you might expect. There are plenty of retro blips and beats to satisfy the 8bit fans, as well as more earthbound instruments like the piano that provides the main melody and childlike feel.

Oh, you’re not familiar with the name “Hip” Tanaka? Well, how about the games he’s written music for? Metroid? Kid Icarus? Tetris? Mother? Donkey Kong? Mario Bros.? And that’s just a few. Now you understand just how exciting this new HearJapan release is!

Are you another Hirokazu Tanaka, or just want to live the dream of being one? Sing along to the karaoke version. Think you can do better than the master? Take a crack at writing your own music along to the Tanaka a cappella.

All eleven Hirokazu Tanakas are available on the new single Tanaka Hirokazu no Uta at HearJapan for ¥570 | $6.59 | €4.44

About HearJapan

HearJapan is the largest and fastest-growing place on the web to purchase Japanese music of all genres. Featuring over 2000 artist profiles in English with 40-second samples of all songs. Over 100 releases are added every week to the currently-available 20,000+ songs in the 100% DRM free catalog. HearJapan is a great place to find the hard to find and to explore the unexplored in the world of Japanese music.