Ryuko Mizuta -- Hirado Ujou (平戸雨情)

I remember turning into a fan of gorgeous enka singer Ryuko Mizuta (水田竜子) through Noelle Tham’s article of the song "Yopparachatta" (酔っぱらっちゃった) back in 2016, and, thanks to that song, have always wanted to buy one of her CDs since then. During last Christmas, I ordered her “Best Selection 2016”, which featured almost all of her singles from 1994 to 2016, with the exception of one, if I’m not mistaken, in order to finally have it in my collection. However, not only of “Yopparachatta”-like songs the compilation was comprised, and that was sort of a problem (in fact, the problem is to become infatuated by the woman regardless of what she sings, but let’s not talk about that).

Mizuta’s discography, in special her latest singles, is comprised of… surprise, surprise… enka in its purest form, with the melismas and all the stuff required… which I’m not very fond of, to be quite honest. Her voice and technique are always on point, but the overall production, sometimes excessively dramatic, is not really for my taste (I still try to like it, though). So, besides “Yopparachatta”, some singles from the late 90s, and a couple of others from past years, like the already covered “Uwasa no Minato”, one of the highlights of the selection comes in the form of “Hirado Ujou”, a more restrained kayo kyoku released back in February 2014.

“Hirado Ujou” is quite smooth and classy, which is probably why I liked it so much. While I’m not an expert on the subject, I think the song could easily pass as an old Showa-era ballad with this nostalgic mix of Western arrangement with some Eastern details. And Ryuko Mizuta still sings it in a light enka style, but not in an overwhelming way. In the end, the song earned its spot in my enka playlist (yeah, even I have one of those).

Lyrics were written by Reiji Mizuki (水木れいじ), while music was composed by Hideo Mizumori (水森英夫). As for the arrangement, Toshioki Maeda (前田俊明) was the responsible.

Ryuko Mizuta Best Selection 2016