Don't those two above make a nice couple? I can envision them easily spending the night hours at a swanky nightclub sharing martinis.
I saw "Yoru no Meguriai" (An Evening Affair) performed on last week's "Kayo Concert"（歌謡コンサート）between Aki Yashiro（八代亜紀）and Keisuke Yamauchi（山内恵介）. If I'm not mistaken, I think the performance was part of a "lightning round" medley of songs that the guests did...which actually did work for me in that the songs intrigued me enough for me to take a search on YouTube. And glad I did, too, for "Yoru no Meguriai", since it was The Big Man who originally handled the other half of the duet with Yashiro.
Up to this point, the veteran Yashiro has performed 10 duets in her enka career, the first three being with Yujiro Ishihara（石原裕次郎）. "Yoru no Meguriai" was the middle Yashiro-Ishihara collaboration released in November 1979. Written by Mitsuo Ikeda（池田充男）and composed by Shinichi Nozaki（野崎真一）, the ballad spoke of that nighttime tryst in the bar areas of Tokyo. Being a geek, and never being particularly endowed with money, I've never experienced the night life that I've seen portrayed on old episodes of "Enka no Hanamichi"（演歌の花道）or the karaoke videos for the enka tunes, and I have a feeling that scenes of well-to-do couples drinking and dancing the light fantastic in areas like Ginza or Akasaka have become rather rare in the last few decades. So I think listening and envisioning songs like "Yoru no Meguriai" rather evoke a time long past, even before the Bubble Era.
"Yoru no Meguriai" made it all the way up to No. 51 on the Oricon charts, and I'm sure it's still a favourite on shows like "Kayo Concert". Not sure how long it will stay up, but here is the performance of the song with Yashiro and Yamauchi. I have no particular problems with Yamauchi being the partner but I think Ishihara will still be the definitive half for this duet.
Speaking of which, for many years, I've often come across Mood Kayo tunes with "meguriai" included in the title so I'm glad for starting this blog since it finally forced me to find out what it meant.
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| A local pub near Ebisu Garden Place |
Yup, a nice couple they do make. Two folks who are/were perfect for Mood Kayo. But the thing that bothers me is what Yujiro wore in that single cover in the first video. It looks so... tacky. And then again, it was taken back in the 70's when shirts like that were in style (I seriously hope it doesn't make a comeback).
ReplyDelete"Yoru no Meguriai" was more fast-paced and not really a jazz Mood Kayo as I had initially thought. In fact, I feel that it sounds a little like a Latin Mood Kayo. And Aki hitting the dance floor with Yujiro, dang that's something I'd like to see!
Experiencing the night life is not something I've done yet, but would like to try it sometime to cross it off my list. Somewhere not too high-brow and a cozy atmosphere would be nice.
Well, I actually lived through the 70s, so indeed, green wide-lapeled leisure suits and bell-bottom pants were things I used to see all the time. Heck, there's a picture of me and my brother with long hair in white pullovers and matching pink vests and bell-bottomed pants back in that decade (the photo is now hopefully hermetically sealed somewhere in a dungeon). So I'm not all that surprised to see The Big Man in garb that seems to scream "Wild Hawaii". I think Ishihara had a thing for the Aloha State.
DeleteNight life with a few buddies in Tokyo can be quite nice and at a reasonable price, too. Just look for a neighbourhood izakaya and then head out for karaoke afterwards. Good times!