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.

Friday, October 20, 2017

Hiroshi "GWAN" Sato -- Aozora(青空)


A few months ago, I wrote about a song introducing a folk singer/actor by the name of Hiroshi "GWAN" Sato(佐藤GWAN博)whose "Tanpopo no O-Sake"(たんぽぽのお酒)was fun enough to talk about. I mentioned that I would write more about him due to the presence of some other songs on YouTube.

(about 16:12)

Well, I dug up this one that was the title track for his debut album "Aozora"(Blue Sky)from 1976. It's the musical equivalent of a pleasant traipse through a park with that hint of City Pop. However, since I didn't get the impression that there was anything especially urban about the song, I decided to categorize it as a New Music tune. Sato doesn't sound as if he is classically trained in voice but I think that works to his and the song's advantage. He's just the everyday bloke cherishing his time off work and taking that stroll through green scenery under a blue sky.


I'm not sure when Sato performed this above version of "Aozora" but the arrangement this time is much more folksy with a whimsical country tang. Incidentally, the original song was arranged by Ryuichi Sakamoto(坂本龍一). This version, though, doesn't take as many flights of fancy as the original did. It's more of a happy straight-ahead telling. Hard to choose which one I like better.

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