The singer and tarento Marico（真璃子）is someone that I had never heard about during my early years appreciating Japanese popular music. Actually, I first heard about Mariko Koga（古賀真里子）through my work on the blog over the years. During her initial run as a singer between 1984 and 1995, she had started out as an aidoru for songs such as "Nijuu-ni Shoku no Heart"（22色のハート）but by the early 1990s, she was probably considered more as a pop chanteuse covering ballads including "Anata no Umi ni Naritai"（あなたの海になりたい）.
Marico's transition happened halfway somewhere but I can't really make that distinction even with her 5th single "Kanashimi no Festa" (Festival of Sorrow) which was released in March 1987. So, I'll just throw in the appropriate Labels. In any case, despite a thumpy synthpop intro, "Kanashimi no Festa" quickly becomes a dramatic Latin funk fest along the same lines as Akemi Ishii's（石井明美）"Cha-Cha-Cha" although without the Eurobeat tropes. Words and music were provided by Toshihiko Takamizawa（高見沢俊彦）from ALFEE fame with Satoshi Takebe（武部聡志）handling the arrangement.
I love some the experiments Japanese producers were doing with music durning 70's and 80's! And, I think "Kanashimi no Festa" is a good example of this! By the way I just found out that Yumi Matsutoya wrote the lyrics for one of Mariko's other songs, セシルの週末 .
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