Sayuri Ishikawa -- Yotte Soro (酔って候)

I wasn't paying that much attention to Sayuri Ishikawa's (石川さゆり) movements during the first minute or two in the video above where she sang her 84th single, "Yotte Soro", so I assumed she was just doing a little elegant jig that some female Enka singers do when decked out in a kimono. And then again, I did find it a little odd as to why Ishikawa was strutting out in such an erratic fashion with a dazed smile and glazed eyes. It took me a while to finally connect the dots - song name, bizarre movements. Turns out she was just trying to play the role of someone who had a tad too much sake to drink and is now tipsy and somewhat delirious, but it makes sense since the title literally has the word "drunk" in it. Seeing the usually very lady-like Ishikawa staggering about in a drunken stupor was mighty amusing, though.

I discovered "Yotte soro" while viewing an episode of "BS Nippon no Uta" last Saturday. It was one of the more difficult episodes to watch since I was only looking forward to a couple of familiar songs, like Eisaku Ohkawa's (大川栄策) "Abare Funa Uta" (あばれ舟唄) which was aMAzing, only made even better by the fact that I had to sit through about 45 minutes of other songs that I wasn't too fond of beforehand. The other one I was waiting for was Ishikawa's latest single, "Anya no Shinju Date" (暗夜の心中立て), that would be sung during the "Special stage" performance along with singer-songwriter Tokiko Kato (加藤登紀子).

It was an interesting "Special stage", with Ishikawa and Kato singing songs that revolved around the consumption of alcohol. I enjoyed Kato's deep, slightly husky, elegant delivery, but I didn't really like her rendition of one of Ikuzo Yoshi's (吉幾三) hit singles "Suika" (酔歌)... that song needs someone - other than Yoshi himself - with a gritty voice. Next came "Yotte Soro", which surprised me with its funky, sassy, and slightly whimsical score with a hint of Enka added by the occasional entry from the Otsuzumi (I think). It was a nice, unexpected treat... it definitely woke me up, that's for sure.

It was written by Osamu Yoshioka and composed by Masato Sugimoto (吉岡治 . 杉本眞人). I'm not sure how well "Yotte soro" did on the charts since there's no write up on it, but I'll go out on a limb here and say that it most likely did fairly well because... you know, she's Sayuri Ishikawa. To say that she's popular in the world of Enka is like saying Clint Eastwood is manly, and that guy oozes machismo!

www.ishikawasayuri.com