I've been a fan of Japanese popular music for 40 years, and have managed to collect a lot of material during that time. So I decided I wanted to talk about Showa Era music with like-minded fans. My particular era is the 70s and 80s (thus the "kayo kyoku"). The plus part includes a number of songs and artists from the last 30 years and also the early kayo. So, let's talk about New Music, aidoru, City Pop and enka.
Credits
I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.
Knowing about singer-songwriter Kyoko Endo（遠藤京子）from the pages of "Japanese City Pop" and then gradually providing articles on her music within the pages of KKP, my surface impression is that she hasn't been so much of a City Pop singer (although a couple of her tunes at least have been given the City Pop tag...one in 1993!) as she has been a singer of refined un-aidoru-like pop tunes since her debut in the early 1980s.
One of my first entries on Endo was "Kokuhaku Telephone"（告白テレフォン）, her snazzy debut single from November 1981 and a collaboration between her and her lyrics and the composition of Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）. I can't even imagine what it must have been like working with Tsutsumi who had already gotten a reputation as a master melody maker.
Well, "Kokuhaku Telephone" was also on Endo's first album"Operetta" which came out a month later in December. In addition, have a listen to its track mate "A-LI-CE" which was also created by Endo and Tsutsumi. Starting out languidly like a love ballad, the song soon revs up into another mildly funky chorus. The inclusion of strings in the instrumental bridge almost takes things into a Fashion Music area but overall, it remains a pretty cool pop tune. In fact, I kinda wonder whether this is an example of Senri Oe's music even before Senri Oe（大江千里）.
After posting the cover of "Kazarijanainoyo Namida wa"(飾りじゃないのよ涙は）a few days ago for Urban Contemporary Friday and knowing the distinctly dashing figure that songwriter Yosui Inoue（井上陽水）has had all these decades with those dark sunglasses, his crumply-soft voice and the easy enigmatic grin, I kinda wondered what he was like back in his early days. Yes, I was interested in his origins.
Incidentally, Yosui Inoue is technically a stage name for the singer-songwriter born in Fukuoka Prefecture. Although the kanji for his name has never changed, he was born under the different reading (for his given name) Asami Inoue. However, when Inoue first made his debut, he went with the name Andre Candre（アンドレ・カンドレ）for a couple of years before switching to now iconic Yosui Inoue in 1971.
Yep, in September 1969, Andre Candre released his first single"Candre Mandre" under the CBS/Sony label. I don't know how he came up with either that first stage name or that debut single title, but he burst out of the gates running with this one. Looking rather serious on the single cover through two faces, one of those faces has him sans glasses which should be a rare look for the man. However, despite the night photo and those faces, "Candre Mandre" is an upbeat and fairly fast-paced folk tune about a couple heading for that land of love. Andre would release two more singles until he decided to make that fateful name change and make a re-debut.
I've usually assumed that the small and temporary genre of exotic kayo was limited to the late 1970s when hits such as Judy Ongg's（ジュディ・オング）"Miserarete"（魅せられて）boarded the Oricon charts. After that, it was the Golden Age of aidoru, City Pop and technopop.
However, there may have been some pop-ups here and there of songs that seemed to bring images of life and love overseas in distant Asian and European climes. Maybe one such song can be Mayumi Hara's（原真祐美）"Persia no Namida"(Persian Tears). Released in September 1984 as her 7th and penultimate single, it feels slightly like an adventure on the Silk Road in an aidoru atmosphere. The silky strings along with other stringed instruments help sell the image of traveling in the titular area. "Persia no Namida" was written by Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）and composed by Yasuo Kosugi（小杉保夫）.
The above is a shot of my grilled eel lunch that I had in Kawagoe, Saitama Prefecture almost a decade ago. I figured that this would be the ideal shot for my latest entry in the "Koufuku Graffiti" (幸腹グラフィティ...Gourmet Girl Graffiti) franchise, a category that I haven't updated since 2015 when I first saw the anime at my friend's place. Up to now, I had covered the opening and ending themes along with the insert songs.
As with anything in the movie field, anime has covered everything from the goriest horrors to the zaniest comedies, and basically for me, I've always had a preference for the quiet slice-of-life type of show, and "Koufuku Graffiti" has been one of the most famous examples (mind you, it has those rather orgasmic scenes of ingestion). Having a couple of good friends enjoy Japanese dishes from episode to episode has been my manna from heaven...no psychological angst, no fierce rivalries and plenty of deliciously portrayed food that I've been eating since I was a tadpole myself.
Well, yesterday, as I was finishing off my usual five in the Urban Contemporary field as would befit a KKP Friday, my mind went back to that 2015 anime and wondered about its original soundtrack. Foe one thing, it was composed and arranged by singer-songwriter Kotringo（コトリンゴ）who already has a fair number of articles posted including her time with the cool band Kirinji during the 2010s and her cover version of the folk classic "Kanashikute Yarikirenai"（悲しくてやりきれない）as the theme song for the acclaimed anime film "Kono Sekai no Katasumi ni"（この世界の片隅に...In This Corner of the World）.
For another, the soundtrack for "Koufuku Graffiti", known as "Edible Melodies" (the link will take you to Amazon), never seemed all that obtrusive which I think fits Kotringo's personality. There was never any hint that an electric guitar would be shredded at any time during the series. The music is all very whimsical, wistful and warm with the priority given to the visual joy of some of my old dishes from my childhood being animated in most glorious detail. The above track for example, Track 11's "Ippon Yozakura Tamagoyaki"（一本夜桜卵焼き...Night Cherry Blossom Fried Egg） centers around the flute and strings and sounds just like a number one would hear in an art gallery cafe.
By the way, you can also access this link to hear very brief excerpts from the soundtrack at Apple.
One trope that pops up throughout the soundtrack is that Kotringo herself provides some of her vocal effects through humming or scatting, and that is the case with Track 15"Omurice Horror"（オムライス・ホラー...Rice Omelet Horror）. It really does sound rather sinister although Kotringo's vocal beats let us know that it's not all bad out there. I do recall one episode where there was indeed an omurice accident. Omurice isn't exactly a novice dish, you know.
I definitely remember this piece, Track 22"Atatakai O-nabe"（あたたかいお鍋...A Warm Bowl）, playing in the background, although the video here is of a cover version by AniMuffin Piano. If I'm being accurate here, it was playing during the quiet scenes and since there were a whole lot of quiet scenes in "Koufuku Grafitti", I'm sure that it was getting played at least once an episode. There's quite the nice waltz-y lilt.
I guess because the soundtrack was so subtle and relaxing, it hasn't gotten a lot of videos up onto YouTube, so I just have the above Episode 1 in its entirety to show off a few more tracks. Right from the start, there is a rendition of Track 1 "O-inarisan no Aji"（おいなりさんの味...The Taste of Sushi Rice in Deep-Fried Tofu Skin） which pops up whenever the main character of Ryo remembers back to the past, including her memories of her late grandmother.
At about 5:00 of the video, in comes the petite force of nature that becomes Ryo's foodie friend, Kirin, so her theme song which is Track 3 has some of those Kotringo verbal beats and a circus-like arrangement. One more song that I'll throw in is "O-ryori Humming"（お料理ハミング...Cooking Humming） Track 20 which gets played at 13:40 and is one of my favourite parts of the soundtrack because it not only sounds a tad Xmas-y but it also comes across as something cheerful from an old-timey sitcom or Hollywood comedy.
As I hinted above, "Edible Melodies" isn't a soundtrack to emphasize the action or the laughs for an anime. Think of it as a light and tasteful vinaigrette to add a little something to the salad.
Perhaps not the most well-known of City Pop singer-songwriters, Koh Suzuki（鈴木こう）nonetheless came up with a fine 1982 album titled "Sa-Ra-Vah Street". I focused on some of the tracks from the album back in 2020.
Well, I have encountered another track from "Sa-Ra-Vah Street" titled "Moonlight Lovers" that sounds so quintessentially City Pop/J-AOR that my teeth just shimmered as if I ingested a huge spoonful of ice cream. Yup, it has the bluesy sax solo, the essential wailing electric guitar and the Doobie Bounce in the arrangement by Masaki Matsubara（松原正樹）. Suzuki, of course, is the congenial vocal host with his resonant and comfortable delivery. The singer and Toshiyuki Shibayama（柴山俊之）came up with the lyrics while Satoshi Takebe（武部聡志）whipped up the tasty urban melody. Nice way to finish up a Friday.
I always enjoy those bird's-eye night views of Tokyo. I've never been all that high up but at least I got to the top of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government buildings to catch the Coruscant-like scene of the megalopolis spreading out on the horizon.
I also enjoy making discoveries of songs from that past that I'd never got to hear before. One example is this one by the duet of Makoto Saito（斎藤誠）and Mai Yamane（山根麻衣）. Both of them have had their feet in both City Pop and rock, but I think for this collaborative effort it's safe to say that this is a splendid mid-tempo pop love song. However, I also feel that there is enough of an urban contemporary element in there that I can imagine flying in the night sky or driving on the night highway while listening to "Our Love". This is a track from Saito's October 1990 album"Egao ni Go-chui."（笑顔に御注意。...Watch Out For That Smile）, a title that may be the only purely Japanese-language one among the mostly English-titled album discography by him.
It was back in 2018 when I first wrote on Izumi Kobayashi（小林泉美）& Flying Mimi Band, a group that had been listed within my first edition of "Japanese City Pop" for a number of years before I started exploring on YouTube. There I found their "Naze"（なぜ）which was some fine downtown City Pop funk from 1978.
Well, that was from their October 1978 2nd album"Sea Flight" (considering the slightly daring cover, I thought it was called "Sexy Flight"). I have also found another track from "Sea Flight" which is "Angel Sky", which was composed by saxophonist Yasuaki Shimizu（清水靖晃）and written by Kobayashi herself. It's a nice dusky form of jazzy City Pop disco, and though I was a bit dismissive of her vocals in "Naze", I think Kobayashi has got a better handle of them here. But I think for this one, it's all about the instruments coming to the fore, especially the sax, keyboards and bluesy guitar.
