Aya Shimazu -- Tokai no Suzume（都会の雀）

 

Enka singer Aya Shimazu（島津亜矢）has been a frequent presence on shows such as "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本の歌）, and for good reason. She's one of the best chanteuses out there who also possesses a hint of soul in her delivery. But I feel a bit regretful that I seem to have usually posted articles which include her doing cover versions of other singers' songs. Maybe the last one I posted which was on a Shimazu original was "Natsu Tsubaki"（夏つばき）back in 2022.

Well, she was on "Shin BS Nihon no Uta" last night and she sang her 25th single from March 1999, "Tokai no Suzume" (Swallow of the City). Written by Osamu Yoshioka（吉岡治）and composed by Masato Sugimoto（杉本眞人）, I'm kinda on the fence on whether the song is a contemporary enka or whether it's a blend of enka and urban contemporary which would then put it into the category of New Adult Music. Whichever genre I ultimately decide upon, it is a song that shows that soulfulness in her vocals

When I first heard the song last night on NHK, my impression of the lyrics was that the swallow, being a migratory bird, was a metaphor for any wayward ex-boyfriend or new boyfriend being invited (back) into the fold as it were by a lonely hope-deficient woman. However, seeing the official music video above, "Tokai no Suzume" may actually be more about a wayward buddy in arms stuck in a criminal crisis.

Midori Hara -- Aamer Jabar（アマロ・ジャバロ）

JRC, DG, ECHO, EC via Wikimedia Commons

Singer-songwriter Midori Hara（原みどり）has been a relatively recent addition to the "Kayo Kyoku Plus" family, but she's been making an impression upon me with her willingness to tackle a ton of genres including City Pop, jazz and Latin. She was even in the earliest incarnation of the eclectic SPANK HAPPY band doing some rock along the lines of YUKI from Judy & Mary. You can also take a gander at the Part 1 and Part 2 articles I posted to cover her 1988 album "KO・KO・RO・NOTE".

In 1989, Hara released another album titled "Aamer Jabar to Ieta Hi"（アマロ・ジャバロと言えた日...The Day I Say Aamer Jabar [sic]）. The title track happens to be called "Aamer Jabar" and I had to jump through a few linguistic hoops before I found out that the title originates from Indonesian. Looking through Hara's lyrics of the song, I saw the expressions "Selamat malan!" and "Selamat tinggal!" which are Indonesian for "Good night!" and "Goodbye!" respectively. Assuming that "Aamer Jabar" was also from the same language...I ran it through Google Translate but didn't get anything. However, it then suggested that I try it through Bangla which is actually spoken in Bangladesh and eastern India and I got the translation "I'm going". But if anyone who's fluent in the above languages can confirm or refute what I've found, please let me know. Terima kasih!

Well, it seems like Hara decided to go trilingual including her native Japanese to broadcast her song of heartbreak and death of romance in "Aamer Jabar". Hara's melody at least sounds quite romantic and rather exotic with a bit of R&B balladry and late 80s City Pop stylings. In a way, it's kinda like Junko Yagami's（八神純子）style of music from those late 1980s.

BEGIN -- Ojii Jiman no Orion Beer（オジー自慢のオリオンビール）

 

Summer arrived in the wee hours of this morning. It certainly feels like summer in my room since my room is traditionally the warmest in the entire home. But outside, it's not too bad out there; it's sunny but there's a nice breeze wafting through the area so the heat isn't really torrid.

In any case, to commemorate the official arrival of the hot season, I decided to see what kind of summer song I can post up today. I figure that something about beer would be nice since in both of my countries of birth and ancestry, the golden suds are absolutely beloved especially on a really hot day. 

Looking through the Net, I found this song was popping up a fair bit. BEGIN, the band of Okinawan blues, released a single in July 2002 titled "Ojii Jiman no Orion Beer" (Grandpa's Prized Orion Beer), an aural showcase for Okinawa's famous brand of beer. I've had Orion Beer a couple of times when I went to an Okinawan restaurant in Tokyo...it went down smooth enough. As the good folks put it in their lyrics, Orion is the elixir of the gods in Japan's southernmost prefecture. Not surprisingly, it became a commercial song for Orion itself.

Somehow, I don't think the Japanese needed the arrival of the summer solstice to go into happy hysterics today. But I think that a lot of beer of all brands was imbibed.

Yasuko Agawa -- She ~ Senior Dreams

 

Commenter YMOfan04 and I were conversing a bit on the melding of different genres for positive effect, and our observation was that Japanese composers and arrangers seemed to be especially enthusiastic. Anyone who has been a longtime reader of KKP has probably learned that I sometimes have trouble categorizing some songs here because the blend has been just that smooth.

Latin jazz, which wasn't invented by the Japanese by the way, has been one nice and tasty cocktail for decades upon decades. I found another fine example as recorded by jazz singer Yasuko Agawa（阿川泰子）on her 1981 5th album "Sunglow". The songwriters for "She ~ Senior Dreams" were Claudio Amaral and Jay Anthony Wagner and the result was this lovely classy tune which comes straight from Brazil but they couldn't decide on whether to have it come out as a slow bossa nova ballad or as something on the level of a fairly fast samba. So, they just opted to have it arranged into both modes. I kinda had to hold onto my desk when I heard the transition for the first time.

Kenshi Yonezu -- Karasu（烏）

Wikimedia Commons

Well, World Cup 2026 is now a little over a week old now, and so far, my biggest impression is that we are getting a lot of tied games this time around.

Toronto, one of the host cities for the event, has been quite busy entertaining, feeding and quenching the thirst of the tourist masses flowing in. I'm hoping that everyone has been enjoying themselves. As for me, I'll be happy just staying home.

For the past few months, this song has been filling the airwaves at NHK to represent the national broadcaster's share of showing the sports tournament. It's been a couple of years since I've covered a Kenshi Yonezu（米津玄師）song but I've got another opportunity with his latest digital single "Karasu" (The Raven) which was only released a few days ago.

I guess it's a Yonezu characteristic to bring in some of the whimsical and classical to one of his songs, and "Karasu" is no different. By the way, the video was filmed at one of the Imabari Shipbuilding Corporation's facilities in Shikoku, I believe. According to the J-Wiki article for "Karasu", Yonezu came up with the title after the bird on the emblem of the Japan Football Association. Plus, he also mentioned that he had become friends with one raven at his house when he was a kid. Of course, Yonezu was responsible for words and music, and the translation of the lyrics can be found at "Lyrical Nonsense".

Mebae Miyahara -- Omocha no Machi ni Samayotte（オモチャの街をさまよって）

Miki Yoshihito via Wikimedia Commons

 

Approaching the summer solstice, we only have a few days left of increasing sunlight time so let's make some good use of that by going out with buddies onto the patio for some drinks in the evening, although I'm well aware that the decrease of daylight time will be quite slow into the summer months.

Regardless, let's finish Urban Contemporary Friday on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" with a nice and refreshing tune by singer-songwriter Mebae Miyahara（宮原芽映）. She's been known for some eclectic material in the City Pop and pop veins, but this one has got that traveling-to-unknown-climes vibe. "Omocha no Machi ni Samayotte" (Wandering Through Toy Town) is a rather unusual title for this one. One would think that this would have more to do with Christmas, but actually, it's the name for a pretty stylish bossa jazz tune with accordion and saxophone in the mix. Again, cocktail time!🍹

"Omocha no Machi ni Samayotte" is a track on Miyahara's September 1987 third album "Mariposa". It was written by the singer with Kazutaka or Ichitaka Nishida（西田一隆）and Masaaki Kondo（近藤正明） behind the Latin melody.

Toshiki Kadomatsu -- Beams

 

I should remember that summer is just around the corner...in a couple of days as of this writing. Well, gotta think of some appropriate songs especially when we have Fridays like these on the blog.

Anyways, I was listening to the "Beams" CD within the "Light Mellow" series of albums as curated by Toshikazu Kanazawa（金澤寿和）last night for the first time in a while. Strangely enough, I realized that for the number of tracks from "Beams" that I've featured on KKP such as Sonia Rosa's（ソニア・ローザ）"Tokyo in the Blue"（東京イン・ザ・ブルー）and Kenichi Fujimoto's（藤本健一）"Asa no Wakare"（朝の別れ）, I hadn't brought Toshiki Kadomatsu's（角松敏生）"Beams" onto the blog, and that was the first track and title track for this "Light Mellow" CD.

Originally from Kadomatsu's 15th studio album from August 2003, "Summer 4 Rhythm", "Beams" sounds timeless. I mean that I couldn't believe that it was actually from the 21st century. I'd thought it was right from one of his 80s albums. The song is ethereal, fun and summery. It's like undergoing a tribal experience under the sun at high noon on a pure white beach after which frolicking in the ocean is mandatory. "Summer 4 Rhythm" was probably a tribal experience for many who bought the album since it hit No. 9 on Oricon.