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.
Friday, April 20, 2012
Akiko Yano -- Zai Kuntong Shonen (在広東少年）
"Zai Kuntong Shonen"(Canton Boy) was actually the B-side to Akiko Yano's（矢野顕子） hit single "Harusaku Kobeni"（春咲小紅）, but I think it still merited its own A-side. It's such a funky and eclectic piece of technopop with the Yellow Magic Orchestra providing all the synth magic and electric guitar while Yano provides some of her own vocal acrobatics. When I first heard it, I couldn't quite figure it out but once I got used to Yano's unusual delivery and initial dissonance, it's become a fun song for me.
When I tried to watch this for the second time on YouTube, there were some technical difficulties so I hope you are a bit more successful when you watch it here. This is actually during the YMO concert in Budokan when Yano toured with the band as a second keyboardist. For the past several years, I've usually seen Yano behind a grand piano playing pop and jazz, so it's pretty exhilarating seeing her just getting down and whooping it up behind her synths while wearing the YMO uniform back 30 years ago.
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Feel free to provide any comments (pro or con). Just be civil about it.