Monday, September 2, 2013

Azumi Inoue -- Tonari no Totoro (となりのトトロ)



In the last couple of days, I heard that Hayao Miyazaki(宮崎駿)had announced his retirement from creating feature-length films after the completion of "The Wind Rises" (known as "Kaze Tachinu"...風立ちぬ in Japan). It's not an exaggeration to say that this is the passing of an era in world animation, whether or not one has liked his body of work.

So, going back a few decades, I wanted to profile the ending theme for "Tonari no Totoro"となりのトトロ...My Neighbour Totoro), which was released in March 1988. I first heard it in its instrumental form when it was always used as one of the songs of encouragement played over the speakers at the Sports Festivals at the two schools I had taught in Gunma. Some months later, I finally bought the VHS video for the movie itself, and although it didn't displace "Kiki's Delivery Service" as my favourite Miyazaki film, the couple of scenes that charmed my kutsushita off both involved that ending theme by singer Azumi Inoue(井上あずみ).


Composed by frequent Miyazaki musical collaborator Joe Hisaishi(久石譲)and with lyrics by Hayao Miyazaki himself, the playing of "Tonari no Totoro" as sisters Satsuki and Mei happily head home in the cool and adorable Neko Bus at the very end of the movie had me smiling ear-to-ear much like the Bus and Totoro themselves. Inoue's flying delivery perfectly fit the fantastical optimism and whimsy that Totoro and his little buddies brought into the scenes. A lot of the little kids have probably wanted to take a flight with the big grey lug himself as soon as the theme came on. Totoro may not be the most verbose of fellows but he will always have your back.

Inoue, who hails from Kanazawa City Ishikawa Prefecture, also sang the opening theme, "Sanpo"さんぽ...Stroll) to the movie, and provided the ending theme, "Kimi wo Nosete"君をのせて...Carrying You) for a previous Miyazaki film, "Tenku no Shiro Laputa"(天空の城ラピュター....Laputa - Castle In The Sky) in 1986.

As a PS, the theme song for "The Wind Rises" is Yumi Arai's(荒井由実) "Hikoki Gumo"ひこうき雲...Vapour Trails), her 1973 classic which is already profiled here.

4 comments:

  1. I find the cutesy singing by Inoue to be a little annoying, so I don't like most of the live clips on youtube. However, here is a rare earlier clip pre-2000, from 1998 to be precise, of her singing Kimi wo Nosete. Her timing is a little off, but it shows that her voice is indeed one of the wonders of Japanese music, and not one rendered so by post-production.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eyy-kAfeoE

    She seems to specialise in children's songs, which IMHO is a bit of a waste of her incomparably beautiful voice. But then I remember that her Miyazaki catalgoue by itself measures up well against many singers with more adult discographies. I just can't find an original copy of my favourite song of hers, Maigo, whose instrumental in Totoro pales alongside the stunning beauty of the image song. However, I did find this curio, her debut single in aidoru mode. Maybe she was better off steering clear of adult music and gaining her reputation via Miyazaki songs after all.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-3vhGhPdHM

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  2. Hi there.

    Thanks for introducing her debut tune as an aidoru. Yup, I think Ms. Inoue found a better niche in the Miyazaki films.

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  3. According to a couple of her interviews from this month, she's a fan of Hiromi Iwasaki.

    Q: 子どもの頃から歌うことは好きでしたか?

    A: 「はい、すごく好きでした! 当時は岩崎宏美さんの大ファンで、よくマネして歌っていましたね。歌が本当に好きだから、練習も頑張れたんだと思います。好きだと思ったら下手でも一生懸命やることが大事。努力すれば必ず結果になって表れるはずです」

    https://iko-yo.net/articles/2553

    During Hiromi's Live Songs programme last year, where she did 4 audience requests from a list of 100 songs, Tonari no Totoro was in the list (but not picked). Azumi would have been thrilled to hear Hiromi sing her song.

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    Replies
    1. I can certainly agree with Inoue's choice in who to admire!:)

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