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.
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Taeko Ohnuki -- Cosmos wo Mitsuketa （宇宙[コスモス]をみつけた）
(January 21 2014: Unfortunately, the original video by Ohnuki has been taken down, so I brought in special guest star Miku Hatsune to take over.)
As I've mentioned in past Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子） profiles, her early 80s songs tended to swing from those European sweeping epics to the cute techno ditties, courtesy of Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）. "Cosmos wo Mitsuketa"(I Found A Cosmos Flower) is definitely in the latter category. And usually the techno ones have been for commercial jingles or the themes of TV shows. And as usual, even the minor Ohnuki tunes still have some pretty nice hooks.
(August 28 2017: Well, it's back!)
Released in May 1984 as her 12th single, "Cosmos wo Mitsuketa" was also a track on Ohnuki's 8th album, "kaie"（カイエ） which was found in the record stores a few weeks later. And the song was indeed a theme song for a quirky NHK docu-program shown during the early 80s titled "Oshaberi Jinbutsu Den"（おしゃべり人物伝...Tales of the Talkative) which seemed to incorporate dramatic vignettes, readings and documentary footage centered around the theme figure for that week.
Hi J-Canuck. Very good choice of song by Taeko Ohnuki. This tune goes well with the flower blooming season which I hope will come to Toronto very soon. It's got that loveliness and sweetness that I associate with warm spring afternoons. Ohnuki's voice is lovely as always.
Been absent as of late due to being mentally stressed over job applications. One of the companies got back to me and offered me an opportunity to teach English in Japan starting this summer. Let's see how that goes. :)
Good to hear from you, nikala. And congratulations on that opportunity to head over to Japan. Once you get settled, you can become our Japan correspondent. :) Just don't go too nuts on the CD purchases like I did.
Yup, I figured it was time to bring back Taeko into the mix. It's been a while, and her voice always brings the Spring!
Hi J-Canuck. Very good choice of song by Taeko Ohnuki. This tune goes well with the flower blooming season which I hope will come to Toronto very soon. It's got that loveliness and sweetness that I associate with warm spring afternoons. Ohnuki's voice is lovely as always.
ReplyDeleteBeen absent as of late due to being mentally stressed over job applications. One of the companies got back to me and offered me an opportunity to teach English in Japan starting this summer. Let's see how that goes. :)
Good to hear from you, nikala. And congratulations on that opportunity to head over to Japan. Once you get settled, you can become our Japan correspondent. :) Just don't go too nuts on the CD purchases like I did.
ReplyDeleteYup, I figured it was time to bring back Taeko into the mix. It's been a while, and her voice always brings the Spring!