I've been a fan of Japanese popular music for 40 years, and have managed to collect a lot of material during that time. So I decided I wanted to talk about Showa Era music with like-minded fans. My particular era is the 70s and 80s (thus the "kayo kyoku"). The plus part includes a number of songs and artists from the last 30 years and also the early kayo. So, let's talk about New Music, aidoru, City Pop and enka.
Credits
I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
Nobuo Ariga -- Rain Dolphin
So while the folks in Toronto are getting slammed with heavy snowfalls and Siberia-worthy temperatures, January in most parts in Japan just means: cold-ish but OK, as long as you buy a few extra things to insulate your home. This year's winter has been warmer than usual with quite a few rainfalls, which reminds me of November back home. Today is another one of those days, so I put on this mellow track by Nobuo Ariga (有賀啓雄) to get me in the mood for a long walk in the rain to work. Whether it's the circular bass line or the triangle instrument effects, it brings up vivid images of raindrops forming puddles and cars passing by and making splashes. Ariga's voice also has a certain cloudy effect that contributes to the mood. Whatever your impression is, it's a nice soundtrack to rainy weather, especially when it hits big cities like Tokyo and covers tall buildings in a mysterious grey veil, like that beautiful misty saxophone that appears at the end of the song. So relaxing.
There isn't much information available on Ariga himself, but here are a few tidbits I found. He first started performing music as a bassist for Shinji Harada's band Crisis and Kenjiro Sakiya's band Vizion. Between 1987 and 1993 he had a brief and obscure solo career, releasing seven singles and three albums, and then withdrew to background status once more. The only other time I saw his name after that besides songwriting credits is as a member of ACRI, a collaborative band project between Tatsuya Ishii (of Kome Kome Club fame) and Char in the mid-90's. Hearing a few of Ariga's well-crafted songs on Youtube did intrigue me enough to purchase his second album "umbrella" where "Rain Dolphin" comes from. He wrote, composed and arranged the whole track, by the way.
Different from Canada or Japan, Brazil is enjoying a typical hot summer. Although I'm not in Rio de Janeiro yet, I know it's gonna be tough to walk there with a big, dry and hot summer on saturday. Let's see how the weather will there on the weekend.
Talking about the song, I really liked it. Also, I couldn't agree more with you as it just feels like a song that starts playing when the rain stops and a shy, yet happy sun comes by. And what a beautiful voice this guy have. So warm!
I just ran to Jpopsuki to find this song. Although none of his albums are uploaded there, I was able to find this particular song in a City Pop compilation. I'll have lots of fun with it.
Really nice song, nikala. I especially love the "Love Unlimited"-like bass line anchoring things...takes me back to the 70s again. Sounds perfect for those precipitation days in Tokyo....I think the weathercasts on Fuji-TV and the other commercial stations ought to use it. :)
As for precipitation here, after suffering some of the coldest days on record in Toronto, we're going all the way up to 8 degrees tomorrow with....you guessed it....rain.
Hi, nikala.
ReplyDeleteDifferent from Canada or Japan, Brazil is enjoying a typical hot summer. Although I'm not in Rio de Janeiro yet, I know it's gonna be tough to walk there with a big, dry and hot summer on saturday. Let's see how the weather will there on the weekend.
Talking about the song, I really liked it. Also, I couldn't agree more with you as it just feels like a song that starts playing when the rain stops and a shy, yet happy sun comes by. And what a beautiful voice this guy have. So warm!
I just ran to Jpopsuki to find this song. Although none of his albums are uploaded there, I was able to find this particular song in a City Pop compilation. I'll have lots of fun with it.
Really nice song, nikala. I especially love the "Love Unlimited"-like bass line anchoring things...takes me back to the 70s again. Sounds perfect for those precipitation days in Tokyo....I think the weathercasts on Fuji-TV and the other commercial stations ought to use it. :)
ReplyDeleteAs for precipitation here, after suffering some of the coldest days on record in Toronto, we're going all the way up to 8 degrees tomorrow with....you guessed it....rain.