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.
Monday, August 27, 2012
Hirofumi Bamba -- Sachiko
Hirofumi Bamba（ばんばひろふみ） began his folk career right from university when he started up a band called The Jackals in 1969, and then created another group soon after called BanBan. He even started a 3rd group in 1978 and a solo career when in the following year, he had his biggest hit in "Sachiko".
Released in September 1979, "Sachiko" is this pretty little ditty that always brings out the nostalgia in me. In a way, Bamba rather reminds me of a Japanese John Denver. He just has this melodic voice which carries the lyrics through the air...maybe for a number of listeners, for those 3 minutes or so, they are transported away from the big city and into the countryside. Perhaps they were hoping for a bit of refreshing change considering that during the turn of the decade, music was changing aidoru styles and the band YMO was bringing in the technopop sound. In any case, it's interesting that a folk song could still do well on the charts entering the 80s. "Sachiko" became the 11th-ranked song of 1980.
Bamba himself composed the song while Choichiro Koizumi（小泉長一郎）provided the lyrics.
I have been looking for this song Sachiko since 1980s! A friend gave it to me in Tokyo in 1986 and was a favourite mine until friends borrowed the cassette and lost it! Thank you, thank you, thank you! It brings back so much fond memories of Japan!
I have been looking for this song Sachiko since 1980s! A friend gave it to me in Tokyo in 1986 and was a favourite mine until friends borrowed the cassette and lost it! Thank you, thank you, thank you! It brings back so much fond memories of Japan!
ReplyDeleteHello, Patrick. Good to hear that the blog was able to reunite you both again.
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