Monday, July 15, 2013

Seiko Matsuda -- Shiroi Parasol （白いパラソル）



32 years ago, my Japanese Language School graduating class landed into the steam bath that was Metropolitan Tokyo to head over to the Tokyo Prince Hotel. 24 years ago, my fellow Canadian JETs and I got to understand the concept of profuse sweating when our bus drove in front of the Keio Plaza Hotel in Shinjuku. Yes, July in Tokyo is not for the meteorologically faint of heart.

But back in that July of 1981, while we kids were broiling in our polyester/cotton blazers and shirts, Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子） was just starting on that steamroller to superstardom. Her 6th single, "Shiroi Parasol"(White Parasol) was released in that month. Written by Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）, former member of Happy End, and composed by Kazuo Zaitsu（財津和夫） of Tulip, the song is a clean and refreshing happy little aidoru tune....it seems a bit more stripped down instrumentally, perhaps a couple of synths and the ubiquitous strings that backed up many an aidoru in those days. And Seiko's long notes in the refrain just put a smile on my face.


"Shiroi Parasol" was her 4th straight No. 1 in her long streak of hitting the top spot on Oricon. And it became the 23rd-ranked song of the year. It later became a track on Seiko-chan's 4th album, "Kaze Tachinu"（風立ちぬ） which was released in October.

Earlier today as all of us here in Toronto entered the first heat wave of the year, a CTV reporter interviewed a middle-aged lady walking down the street with a huge parasol. The conversation basically took on the tone that the lady would be seen as a bit of a freak sporting a frilly umbrella in this day and age in North America's 4th-largest city. Well, even now in Japan, a woman carrying a parasol is seen as being perfectly normal, and is one of the typical signs of summer. Seiko carrying that white parasol is downright nostalgic!

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5 comments:

  1. Marcos V.July 17, 2013 at 4:24 PM

    Hi J-Canuck.

    That's a lovely Seiko song. I consider myself an aidoru fan, but I must confess that I don't quite care about Seiko's material. I only know few of her hits, like "Tengoku no Kiss", "SWEET MEMORIES" and "Strawberry Time".

    I decided to listen to this wong while reading to your post and I realized that this song is very "warming" (I don't know if this is the right word). As you said, her long notes in the refrain are very beautiful. It made me want to hear more of Seiko-chan. I'm going to get a nice Seiko 80s compilation and start the ride.

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    1. J-CanuckJuly 17, 2013 at 8:04 PM

      Hi, Marcos.

      For me, my Seiko years were the early 80s. She's been around for over 30 years, but it was that half-decade that set the template for my favourite songs by her. Yeah, I would say that "Shiroi Parasol" is very heartwarming. It's also kinda hard to pinpoint my description as well, but I found a lot of her tunes at that time as "pure" aidoru.

      If you're gonna get an 80s compilation, I would probably go with "Seiko Box" since it's the one that covers those years.

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    2. Marcos V.July 17, 2013 at 9:54 PM

      Thanks for the tip, J-Canuck. I'm going to listen to this compilation you recommended as I'm really more interested in her first years. I want to hear some early 80s aidoru hits, as my knowledge is more from the mid-to-late 80s. I'm also giving Kyon Kyon a nice try too. From her I discovered a very nice song called "Adesugata Namida Musume", her 9th single.

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    3. J-CanuckJuly 18, 2013 at 12:09 PM

      Thanks for letting me know about "Adesugata Namida Musume" by Kyon Kyon. Just heard it now for the very first time, and the melody strikes me as being a mix of early 80s Anri and YMO....always a nice combo for me. On a hugely hot day like today, listening to a summery-sounding aidoru tune from that decade is always appealing (although the song came out in November).

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    4. Marcos V.July 18, 2013 at 8:41 PM

      Yeah, I liked "Adesugata Namida Musume" very much. I noticed a bit of disco in it too, especially in a part where the brass section takes place with the background vocals and the enhanced bass line.

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