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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.

Thursday, February 10, 2022

The Cherries -- Tobe Tobe(翔べ翔べ)

 

Man, you Takarazuka Revue fans ought to love this scene. In the first few minutes, Takarazuka veterans Rumiko Koyanagi(小柳ルミ子)and Jun Anna(安奈淳)dance up a storm to the Japanese version of "The Way We Were". And this is happening on an NHK broadcast of an old music series called "Hana no Stage"(花のステージ...Stage of Flowers) which I can assume was an ancestor for the current "Uta Con"(うたコン)that is televised on Tuesday nights on the national network. It had its run under that title between January 1978 and April 1980 with hosts ranging from the aforementioned Koyanagi to rocker and songwriter Ryudo Uzaki(宇崎竜童).

In addition, back in the day, "Hana no Stage" apparently had mascots in the form of a trio of young women: Yumi Suzuki(鈴木由美), Kaoru "Kako" Komata/Furumata(古俣かおる), and Misako "Misa" Watanabe(渡辺美佐子), according to "Idol.ne.jp". They were collectively known as The Cherries(ザ・チェリーズ)and they released a total of 7 singles which even went far beyond the time of "Hana no Stage" into late 1981

Their debut single from April 1979 was "Tobe Tobe" (Fly, Fly) and it had the cachet of being written by Yu Aku(阿久悠)and composed by Takashi Miki(三木たかし). With vocals reminiscent of those of popular 70s aidoru Candies(キャンディーズ), there is also quite a bit of polish with "Tobe Tobe". Along with that aidoru tempo, I also get some Fashion Music and even a mild dollop of progressive rock in there.

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