Fumie Asaka -- Koi no Chaconne（恋のシャコンヌ）

 

According to Wikipedia, the harpsichord has possibly been around since the late 1300s and I usually associate the instrument with movies about palatial life back in those distant centuries or something to do with monks writing stuff with quill pens in tiny stone chambers.

However, I've also associated the harpsichord with kayo kyoku of a certain time period...namely the late 1960s and early 1970s. For some reason, the instrument seems to have been quite in demand for the Japanese pop song back then, and in fact, the whole song can sound quite classical and European. 

Case in point: recently YMOfan04 sent me a song by a singer named Fumie Asaka（朝香ふみえ）. Not a lot is known about her and really the only information regarding her is placed under the above YouTube video featuring a track from her 3rd and final single from December 1971. "Koi no Chaconne" (Chaconne of Love) is a prototypical harpsichord-laden kayo that gives it that scent of wistfulness and classical vibe. Written, composed and arranged by Bob Sakuma（ボブ佐久間）, Asaka herself sounds like an opera singer tackling pop music and she even uses the popular "dabadaba" scatting technique that I've often heard in tokusatsu theme songs. 

Now to be frank, I had no idea what a chaconne was. For that, I'll leave it to the YouTuber SHOWA KAYO THE ☆ NOW who has provided this song to explain (the uploader specializes in music from the late 60s into the early 70s): A "chaconne" is a type of dance piece based on a musical form that was widely used during the Baroque era; a famous example is the final movement of J.S. Bach's *Partita for Solo Violin No. 2*.