It's been about eight years since I witnessed my first bona fide professional enka singer with my own eyes when Hiroshi Tayama（田山ひろし）sang at the Toronto Buddhist Church in the northern part of town back in the summer of 2016. Back then, I'd hoped that the Hiroshima Prefecture-born Tayama would make a big breakthrough but alas I haven't heard anything about him in the last several years although his most recent single was released in 2017.
Tayama released this single, "Kairyuu" (Sea Dragon), back in 2015. If I've gotten Kyoko Asahina's（朝比奈京仔） lyrics correctly, the song details a man in the Nagasaki area looking toward the sea as he grieves his departed wife. Junpei Oda's（小田純平）melody is of the enka that I've been hearing for the last number of decades with the traditional arrangement punched up by an electric guitar. Tayama's vocals reflect the man's conflicting emotions of grief and pride over the all-too-brief time spent with the love of his life.
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