From time to time, I get the question from folks about whatever happened to the mysterious Ms. Takako Mamiya（間宮貴子）. Well, your guess is as good as mine. I even sent a query over to Toshikazu Kanazawa at Light Mellow.com to find out if he had any ideas. Well, I'm still waiting for a reply. But my theory is that anyone who has been able to fall off the online radar like she has probably wants to stay that way.
Still, we all share in her great legacy represented by her one and only album from 1982, "Love Trip", which has now become a much sought after album for all of those City Pop enthusiasts. The entire category about Mamiya here at "Kayo Kyoku Plus" has been on her music from this particular release, and I figure that someday I will finally close the category by covering every one of the tracks from "Love Trip".
Well, tonight's entry is "Kanashimi wa Yoru no Mukou" (The Sorrow is Beyond the Night) about Jenny, 3 am, and some lingering melancholy. The instrument of note here is that groovy guitar which makes things sound a lot earlier than 3 am and places things more in a rooftop hotel bar overlooking the streets of Tokyo rather than Jenny's lonely bedroom. Still, it makes for a fine nighttime piece of AOR/City Pop while nursing a tumbler of one's favourite booze. Yoshiko Miura（三浦徳子）provided the lyrics but unfortunately I couldn't even decipher how to read the composer's kanji.
Thanks for going to such lengths for us I do have a burning curiosity into what happened to her. Any closure would be much appreciated.
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure, Stevem. Maybe someday we will get some information about the mystery that is Ms. Mamiya.
DeleteA really good song. Nostalgic instrumentals (incl. that intro and outro) and those vocals just packed full of yearning. No idea about the lyrics though :).
ReplyDelete- roelm
Hi, roelm.
DeleteSome pretty killer intros and arrangements populate "Love Trip"...very addictive.
Very addictive indeed. Whoever chose the songs and masterminded the production surely knew what he/she was doing.
ReplyDelete- roelm
Any update on TAKAKO MAMIYA?
ReplyDeleteNope...and maybe there never will be. She's the City Pop equivalent of Greta Garbo; someone who has disappeared from the scene like a breeze.
DeleteSaya baru menemukan ...menyukai lagu-Japanese, ...lagu ini,enak didengarTakako Mamiya...bagaimana kabarnya...?
ReplyDelete包国 充 (Mitsuru Kanekuni) for the composer normaly
ReplyDeleteThanks very much, Aeden. That helps a lot.
DeleteFrom what I read (if it's true), this korean youtuber discovered that she is still alive but wants to remain hidden from the public eye.
ReplyDeleteHere's link to the video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qSYDlkUBlI
Unfortunately I don't understand Korean so don't know what he's saying.
Hopefully, she is still around and enjoying her private life. She wouldn't be the first one to leave Japanese entertainment on her own terms.
Delete