Saho Terao -- Ienaki Hito（家なき人）

Got to see my foodie friend for lunch today. Went over to the newest Kinton Ramen branch near the disaster area that is the intersection of Yonge & Eglinton (currently under massive construction to put in an LRT). I had the tonkotsu which would have gotten a full thumbs-up from me except that the soft-boiled egg in the bowl apparently had decided to absorb a shaker's worth of salt...kinda ruined the latter half of the meal. But the karaage was still fine.

Also, I caught "Solo ~ A Star Wars Story" that has unfortunately fallen victim to the "familiarity breeds contempt" situation that the entire franchise is currently under. My friend, who is also in the theatre industry, predicts that the movie will probably be somewhat of a financial flop, which is too bad, since I didn't find the movie all that upsetting at all (in comparison to "The Last Jedi"). I certainly liked the actors and I will always see Woody Harrelson as the lovably goofy bartender at "Cheers".

Well, to get on back to music, commenter Chasing Showa contacted me a few nights ago to inform me that another musician sadly passed away very recently. Bassist Jiro Terao（寺尾次郎）may not have been a name that was as nearly as famous as saxophonist Jake H. Concepcion or Terao's bandmates, Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）and Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）, but he was indeed a part of the 1970s New Music band Sugar Babe and continued to play with them (and other artists) when Yamashita and Ohnuki went onto their solo careers.

Chasing Showa also informed me that Terao's daughter, Saho Terao（寺尾紗穂）, has been carving out her own career as a singer-songwriter for the past several years, so I decided to have a look at YouTube. I've been enjoying her creation "Ienaki Hito" (Person Without A Home) which was placed as a track on her June 2010 single "Housou Kinshi Uta"（放送禁止歌...Broadcast Prohibited Song）.

I mentioned this to Showa as well, but on hearing her voice and the arrangement on "Ienaki Hito" and one other song that he had recommended to me, I was struck by the seeming similarity in style between Terao and her father's old bandmate, Ohnuki, and perhaps even Akiko Yano（矢野顕子）in the 1970s. In fact, I would say that "Ienaki Hito" is quite reminiscent of those New Music days which is why I also categorized the song as such although I know that the genre was more of a 1970s phenomenon.

As much as there has been a resurgence in the City Pop/AOR stylings with a number of musicians in recent years, I would also be happy if there were some return of/tribute to some of the other genres from yesteryear such as New Music. We've certainly had one example in the form of Superfly with her late 1960s and early 1970s music.

The above video has that Uncontrolled Version from "Housou Kinshi Uta", but there is also a Controlled Version in her 4th album "Zanshou"（残照...Afterglow）which came out at the same time as the single.