Keisuke Kuwata Releases Kudanshita Folk Festival '25 Charity Live Album

A charity live album capturing the Kudanshita Folk Festival '25, organized and conceived by Keisuke Kuwata at the Nippon Budokan, was officially released across physical and digital platforms. Initially planned as a one-night-only event with unannounced guest appearances, the concert brought together prominent artists including Aimyon, Kazutoshi Sakurai of Mr.Children, Mariya Takeuchi, Yuko Hara, and Kazuya Yoshii of The Yellow Monkey.

Although the organizers had no original plans to commercialize the concert into an audio or video release, the occurrence of an earthquake in Kumamoto following the event shifted those plans. To support disaster-stricken regions across Japan, it was decided that the event would be packaged as a live album. All profits generated from the sales of the album will be donated in full to the Japanese Red Cross Society to aid disaster recovery efforts in Kumamoto and other affected areas.

The newly released album spans a comprehensive tracklist of 29 songs, highlighting various collaborative performances. Among the live highlights are renditions of "You Don't Listen to Rock" by Aimyon and Kuwata, "Hanabi" by Sakurai and Kuwata, "Take Heart" by Takeuchi and Kuwata, "Hanasaku Tabiji" by Hara and Kuwata, and "Tokyo" by Yoshii and Kuwata. The entire ensemble of guest artists also joined together near the end of the night to perform "California Dreamin'" and "Sayonara for Today."

To celebrate the release of the album, a newspaper advertisement featuring a message signed by the executive committee was published in the morning edition of the Yomiuri Newspaper. Additionally, an analog vinyl edition of the live album is scheduled to hit stores on December 16.

Alongside the album release, five live performance videos originating from a special October YouTube program titled Kudanshita Folk Festival '25 -Special Live Selection- were published on Keisuke Kuwata's official YouTube channel. Due to high demand and numerous requests from fans following the initial one-night-only broadcast, these tracks were made available as standalone videos for public viewing.

The newly published YouTube video selection includes "Nagoriyuki" featuring Aimyon and Kuwata, "Mirai no Uta" featuring Yoshii and Kuwata, "Kiseki no Hoshi" featuring Sakurai and Kuwata, "Two Of Us" featuring Takeuchi and Kuwata, and "Icho Namiki no Serenade" featuring Hara and Kuwata.

Radio programming will also support the release, as Kuwata's regular weekly program, Keisuke Kuwata's Gentle Night Play, broadcast on TOKYO FM and the JFN network, airs the second installment of its special release coverage. The program features commentary guest appearances from the participating artists, who answer questions submitted by listeners to reflect on the memorable concert event.