iccoventry wrote:
LEGENDARY Coventry band The Specialsfound themselves turning Japanese after a best-selling guidebook about the city's 2-Tone movement got an Oriental overhaul.
A book written about the movement by Coventry music aficionado Pete Chambers has been translated into Japanese to satisfy a yen for all things ska in the Far East.
The Japanese version of the book is a CD-Rom for use on computers which contains a translation of a 20-point tour of Coventry, taking in the city's sites of interest to Specials and Selecter fans.
They include the General Wolfe pub in Foleshill Road, where The Specials rehearsed in an upstairs room.
The book's author, who writes a weekly column on music in the Evening Telegraph, was encouraged by two original members of seminal 2-Tone band The Specials to get his book translated.
. . . "The English version was written last year when a friend of mine was approached by two Japanese tourists in Coventry.
"They were eager to find a glimpse of the city's 2-Tone chequered past.
"Sadly, my friend had to explain that there was nothing to see in the city that gave birth to the iconic ska movement.
"I wanted to redress the situation."
Since then the English version of the book has sold all over the world but not in Japan, where 2-Tone is well-loved.
Pete said he could not fathom why his book was not selling in a country where 2-Tone is so big.
He said: "I couldn't under-stand it so I talked to a Tokyo 2-Tone fan and he explained the reason for the lack of sales there was that the Japanese would rather read in their native language.
"I mentioned this to former Specials vocalist Neville Staple and guitarist Roddy Byers and they both suggested I get it translated into Japanese." . . . more
