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| https://www.flickr.com/photos/zsispeo/36968708711from zslspeo |
Winter is back in Toronto much to a lot of Torontonians' chagrin and knowing resignation. Heck, we even had a mini-blizzard in our neighbourhood for several minutes this morning.
Well, for those few folks in Toronto who may be reading "Kayo Kyoku Plus", I can perhaps provide a little bit of warm solace through this song. Actually, kudos should be given to commenter Daemonskald who was not only kind enough to send me larger copies of the liner notes for Mioko Yamaguchi's（山口美央子）"Nirvana" album (my eyes are saved and the retinal cells no longer have to pull overtime), but also gave me some nice tips about other singers out there in the kayo universe.
The first singer he recommended was Atsuko Nina（二名敦子）, a singer-songwriter from Osaka who had her time in the sun in the mid-1980s. Actually, I had come across Nina's name through the pages of "Japanese City Pop" but had never come around to her until I got that nice nudge from Daemonskald a few days ago.
Anyways, he led me to this summery number called "Soldier Fish". Had no idea what a soldier fish was until I looked it up on Wikipedia, and apparently the proper spelling has the words merged into one: soldierfish. Looks good enough to eat. As for the song itself, "Soldier Fish" was a track on Nina's 2nd album "Windy Island" from 1985. REICO composed this one with veteran Yoshiko Miura（三浦徳子）providing the lyrics of somebody just enjoying a contented life in the warm waters just like the titular fish. I'm sure that a lot of my fellow citizens are desperately hoping for that sort of lifestyle right now.
The notable thing about Nina here is that she sounds a fair bit like another 80s chanteuse Kanako Wada（和田加奈子）, except that the former seems to especially specialize in the summer beach experience. Nina herself, whose real name is Atsuko Iwai（岩井敦子）, debuted all the way back in 1979 under the stage name of Eri Hayakawa（早川英梨）and perhaps had more of a City Pop bent in her music. According to her J-Wiki biography, she's been a fan of R&B singers including Chaka Khan, along with Janis Joplin.
More exploration to do...
Hi J-Canuck!
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear you won't have eye surgery :)
All current pressing of Mioko Yamaguchi's albums should now come with a new and larger separate lyrics sheet. Too bad early buyers are not offered a pdf version of it.
About Atsuko Nina, I kinda knew you might like her song when I sent you over my list. It's easy to the ears. Some call her style "summer resort songs".
To be correct, "Windy Island" is her 3rd album under . Produced and arranged by Fujimal Yoshino, who also plays guitar on some songs. On this same album, she covers 2 songs of the US band Pablo Cruise with group members as back band.
Hi, Daemonskald!
DeleteYup, thanks again on both counts. Nina certainly sounds like she lives by the coastline. For those Resort Pop fans, she may be the lifeline to get folks out of the winter blues.
Fujimal Yoshino is another City Pop stalwart. Any time his name is bandied about in the liner notes, I automatically take notice.