Cheuni -- Glass no Tokyo Tower（ガラスの東京タワー）

By Wladyslaw via Wikimedia Commons

I remember as an elementary school kid in downtown Toronto when I was at recess seeing the CN Tower gradually being built up. From our schoolyard, we had a pretty clear view of the tower as it was going up. And then one day in 1976, it finally opened as the world's tallest free-standing structure at 553 metres high, a record which it held for about twenty years. And as of a couple of days ago, it celebrated its 50th anniversary. Maybe I'll go up the tower again this year although it now costs a good chunk of an arm and a leg to enter.

Now, it's safe to say that I won't be able to find any kayo kyoku that pays tribute to Toronto's most famous landmark. However, perhaps I can still acknowledge the fact of the CN Tower's golden anniversary through another tower...let's say Tokyo Tower! And coincidentally enough, tomorrow is the 68th birthday since Tokyo's own famous landmark was erected and opened. So I guess we can celebrate the two towers with one song.

That song is "Glass no Tokyo Tower" (Glass Tokyo Tower) which was Cheuni's（チェウニ）16th single from December 2009. Cheuni seems to have become KKP's poster child for the genre of New Adult Music with its mix of enka/Mood Kayo and urban contemporary influences, and it looks like she has enjoyed singing about aspects of Tokyo through songs like "Tokyo Twilight"（トーキョー・トワイライト）which was her debut single in 1999, so I guess "Glass no Tokyo Tower" could be seen as a 10th anniversary song for her. Yuko Natsumi（夏海裕子）was the lyricist here, as she also was for "Tokyo Twilight" and other songs for Cheuni, while Kazuya Amikura（網倉一也）took care of the classy and elegant melody surrounding a woman who is wishing upon Tokyo Tower itself through her apartment window (that's prime real estate there) to somehow bring back the lover that she let go unfortunately. The song reached No. 46 on Oricon.

Akihiro Miwa -- Itoshi no Gin Paris（いとしの銀巴里）

 

The news came in last night just before I was about to turn in, but singer and commentator Akihiro Miwa（美輪明宏）had passed away at the age of 91 on June 20th from old age. Miwa was a survivor of the Nagasaki atomic bombing, chanson singer, drag queen, raconteur and commentator on a number of topics including government policy, and he even had at least a couple of shows where he provided advice to people, famous or not. In fact, the last show featured on TV Japan before it converted to Jme over a couple of years ago was his advice program on NHK. Most times, he was very courteous and elegant but there were a few times where Miwa verbally eviscerated other people onscreen in a rage if he felt they deserved it.

Up until 1971, Miwa had been known by his birth name of Shingo Terada（寺田臣吾）or his first stage name Akihiro Maruyama（丸山明宏）. In his obituaries on television, reporters noted his most famous song "Yoitomake no Uta"（ヨイトマケの唄）from 1965. I've already noted that so I wanted to provide a song of his titled "Itoshi no Gin Paris" (My Beloved Gin Paris). I couldn't definitively track down the recording year but according to his discography on J-Wiki, the earliest that I've seen it mentioned is 2003 so I will go with that.

Miwa's creation is done in the lightly lilting chanson style and he's paying tribute to Japan's first cafe devoted to chanson, Gin Paris（銀巴里）, which was open between 1951 and 1990 in Ginza 7-chome in Tokyo. It was also where Miwa built up his career and a number of other artists have found it to be their breakthrough home such as the late Mina Aoe（青江三奈）. At this time, there is a stone monument at 7-chome near the former site of Gin Paris which has its name carved in.

My condolences go to Miwa's family, friends and many fans. 

Monument of Gin-Paris
by Baynosuke via Wikimedia Commons

Kokusyoku Sumire -- Towa ni Uruwashiku Sumire no Hana yo（永久に麗しく、すみれの花よ）

Charron Freres Accordion by Uberprutser

It's hard to believe, but the very first time I posted anything about the eclectic accordion-based sister duo Charan-Po-Rantan（チャラン・ポ・ランタン）was over a decade ago in 2015 with their "Moebius no Ikitomari"（メビウスの行き止まり）. The sisters Matsunaga struck me as being unique within Japanese pop music.

But then, not too long ago, commenter YMOfan04 informed me of another duo who have a similar style and actually debuted around half a decade earlier than Charan-Po-Rantan. Kokusyoku Sumire（黒色すみれ）, which translates into Black Violets, started up in 2004, and they specialize in pop and retro kayo kyoku. There's Yuka（ゆか）who's the vocalist, accordionist and pianist while Sachi（さち）is on the violin and a number of other instruments.

On listening to "Towa ni Uruwashiku Sumire no Hana yo" (Beautiful Violet Forever) which comes from their 2nd album "Ander Meruhen Kakyokushuu"（アンデルメルヘン歌曲集...Andersen Fairy Tale Lieder Collection） from January 2006, Yuka and Sachi on their instruments brought that feeling of music from Old World Europe of a certain age as well as what I would imagine Taisho Era non-Japanese-style music was like a century ago. Not sure what Yuka, who wrote and composed "Towa ni Uruwashiku Sumire no Hana yo", was inspired by when she created it, but I've had hints of Russian folk music, Argentine tango and maybe even some of that Fashion Music essence from Japan. Maybe YMOfan04 can provide further insights, too.

Kokusyoku Sumire has continued recording up to the present day with thirteen albums including their most recent release, "Kinsei Club"（金星倶楽部...Venus Club） which came out last month.

Shoko Sawada -- Tokaijin（都会人）

Wikimedia Commons

This is the eighth article for singer-songwriter Shoko Sawada（沢田聖子）on KKP, and when it comes to her music, my memories always drift to the first song I ever heard from her, the warm and folksy "Ochiba no Heya"（落葉の部屋）from 1981, thanks to that listening on "Sounds of Japan" many moons ago.

On the other hand, Sawada's 11th single from April 1984, "Tokaijin" (Woman of the City) is quite different. For one thing, she had nothing to do with its creation; instead, it was written by veteran lyricist Masao Urino（売野雅勇）and composed by Eiji Nishiki（西木栄二）. For another, it's a rumbling pop/rock song about a young lady who gets seduced by the night life of a metropolis despite her friend's increasingly angry and desperate warnings. Although I think Sawada handled the song ably enough, I couldn't help but feel that "Tokaijin" was perhaps not the most perfect fit for her and maybe the powers-that-be above her had wanted to put a bit more boost in her variety of music. Mind you, it's all speculation from me but I also thought that this was something that an aidoru like Akina Nakamori（中森明菜）would have tackled with more energy. The song was also placed as a track on the singer's 6th album "Kaze no Yokan"（風の予感...Presage of the Wind） which was released a month after the single.

Satoshi Kishida -- Sunshine Superman（サンシャイン・スーパーマン）

 

"Supergirl" came out today after waiting about a year since she made her rather explosive and drunken cameo on "Superman". I've heard mixed reviews about it, but I still would be interested in catching the flick sometime in the next few weeks.

As such, I thought I would end this edition of Urban Contemporary Friday on KKP with something that has a fleeting connection with "Supergirl", and that would be Satoshi Kishida's（岸田智史）"Sunshine Superman". I re-discovered it on the "Beams" CD of the "Light Mellow" series recently.

I've really known the singer-songwriter's 1979 hit, the tenderhearted and folksy "Kimi no Asa"（君の朝）, and so to hear "Sunshine Superman", which was originally a track on Kishida's October 1977 2nd album "Citron"（シ・ト・ロ・ン）, is quite the revelation. Written and composed by him, it's the bouncy City Pop or J-AOR song of the 1970s with the hazy effect of the synthesizer, the jazzy play of the electric piano or Fender Rhodes and the happy-go-lucky rhythm. There's also something about Kishida's vocals that reminds me of the dulcet tones of Goro Noguchi（野口五郎）.

Also as a PS, I heard about the strong earthquake that shook Yamanashi Prefecture earlier today. And this following a similar tremor up in Aomori has probably gotten citizens a little nervous. Hopefully, that will be the brunt of it and everyone can settle down back into their usual business in the next few weeks or so.

Hirosuke -- Summertime Blues（サマータイム・ブルース）

 

All these years, whenever I've heard the title "Summertime Blues", I would always fondly remember Misato Watanabe's（渡辺美里）classic song from 1990. Well, now, it's got company.

Indeed, a decade before Misato's "Summertime Blues" came onto the scene, singer-songwriter Hirosuke（ヒロスケ）wrote and composed his own "Summertime Blues" as his 2nd single in 1980. As an aside, perhaps his "A-re-ka-ra"（あ・れ・か・ら）was his debut single from the same year.

Compared to the sunny and upbeat "Summertime Blues" by Misato, Hirosuke's "Summertime Blues" is a prowling nocturnal animal hitting the main streets and side streets of the city. Still plenty hot at night in Tokyo. "A-re-ka-ra" was a theme song for a cop show. Why not this one as well? Kimio Mizutani（水谷公生）took care of the City Pop arrangement.

Early Byrds feat. Kyoko Kimura -- Galaxy Special

 

Well, summer is officially here and the World Cup is well under way with both Canada and Japan heading into the knockout rounds. And of course, next week, both my nation and the United States will be celebrating their respective birthdays, so a holiday mood is most likely pervading all throughout the land.

On that vacation-minded note, let's have a listen to "Galaxy Special", the first track from fusion band Early Byrds and Kyoko Kimura's（木村恭子）1981 album "Up and Coming". It's a most upbeat and summery groovy instrumental punctuated by Kimura's vocal scatting. You can shake those cocktails on the Lido Deck while listening to this one.

There isn't a whole lot of information on Early Byrds aside from the lineup within the band. They are Hiroshi Nakanishi, Hiroyuki Fukue, Kunihiro Tsuji, Shingo Kanno, and Tsutomu Wajima (sorry, I couldn't find their kanji or what instruments they played). According to Discogs, they released two more albums in 1982 and 1986. As for Kimura, she has a J-Wiki profile which shows that she was active from the early 1970s in at least a few groups and that she was also getting into the Yamaha music contests a fair bit. Until her untimely passing at the age of 61 in 2013, she had also composed, narrated and recorded a vast number of commercial jingles to the extent that she had been called the Beethoven of Naniwa, to reference her home region in the Kansai area of Japan.