I've been a fan of Japanese popular music for 40 years, and have managed to collect a lot of material during that time. So I decided I wanted to talk about Showa Era music with like-minded fans. My particular era is the 70s and 80s (thus the "kayo kyoku"). The plus part includes a number of songs and artists from the last 30 years and also the early kayo. So, let's talk about New Music, aidoru, City Pop and enka.
Credits
I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.
Monday, October 29, 2018
Kiyoko Suizenji -- O-shoubu（大勝負）
Being just a wee lad at the time, whenever I did see some old footage of Kiyoko "Chiita" Suizenji（水前寺清子）singing her heart out on stage, I did wonder whether I was witnessing a woman or a man. Despite the cute face, Suizenji's short haircut and that forceful gravelly delivery of hers had me somewhat confused for a good long while. Of course, at the time, I also had little knowledge of Japanese nomenclature.
I listened to all four songs from the maxi-single at the top and the one that caught my ear the most was "O-shoubu" (Do-or-Die) which was Chiita's 36th single from November 1970. Starting off with a fanfare of traditional instruments and low horns that seem to portend a monumental storm or a major battle in feudal Japan, the singer proudly throws out with much brio a story of how men could win back in those days.
Listening to "O-shoubu", it is indeed a truly shibui enka ballad composed by Sanechika Ando（安藤実親）that I remember hearing as a kid, especially with the way those strings just bend and wail before Suizenji starts singing. Shinichi Sekizawa's（関沢新一）lyrics have her giving the rules for being a winner: 1) Men must win 2) Men must not fall in love and 3) Men must not cry. I can hear those katana or lightsabers being unsheathed right now.
Considering how much George Lucas dipped into Japanese historical culture for "Star Wars", I'm now kinda wondering whether he had discovered this Suizenji song and used the verse to concoct those Jedi rules. I also scrolled down the list of her singles and found out that she had been releasing six to seven singles a year at one point, including 1970, with "O-shoubu" being her 6th single for that year. She must have already achieved the level of Jedi Master with that sort of energy and stamina.
She was unique in the Enka world for not only singing "male songs" but also wearing men's clothing. The kimonos she wears are men's kimonos (notice how thin/narrow the Obi is and how low she wears it). There are other female singers who sing songs written from the male POV but none of them dressed themselves as a man, just as no male singers who sang female songs dressed as a woman maybe except for Ken-ichi Mikawa whose wardrobe came pretty close to being a dress.
I never got a Sapphic vibe from her, though. Maybe that was partly because of the strong impression I had of her starring role on this very popular TV show called "ありがとう/Arigatou" in which she played a young woman in love with a man played by 石坂浩二/Koji Ishizaka. She was adorable on that show...
Oh, and the song's title is pronounced おおしょうぶ instead of だいしょうぶ.
Yeah, she certainly stood out in the geinokai in general. Since I didn't watch any Japanese dramas at the time, her appearance as a singer had been the only impression that I had about her. She still has plenty of gusto.
FWIW *my* "is that a lady or a dude?!!" perplexion as a kid in the seventies was Sagara Naomi. Wasn't until I saw her hosting TV music shows dressed in evening gowns. The times she dressed in pants and sneakers, I was like... ???
Interestingly I NEVER had that issue with Wada Akiko. Peeps in later years would make fun of her in that vein and yeah, har har but y'all never saw her perform in the early seventies.
Yeah, I had the same reaction with Sagara as well although she seemed to have disappeared from the limelight rather early in my lifetime. For just a little bit, I had also been wondering the same with Kenichi Mikawa. But there was no problem with Akiko Wada although I remember that she got a lot of ribbing on comedy shows such as "Zen'in Shuugo".
Hello Canuck,
ReplyDeleteShe was unique in the Enka world for not only singing "male songs" but also wearing men's clothing. The kimonos she wears are men's kimonos (notice how thin/narrow the Obi is and how low she wears it). There are other female singers who sing songs written from the male POV but none of them dressed themselves as a man, just as no male singers who sang female songs dressed as a woman maybe except for Ken-ichi Mikawa whose wardrobe came pretty close to being a dress.
I never got a Sapphic vibe from her, though. Maybe that was partly because of the strong impression I had of her starring role on this very popular TV show called "ありがとう/Arigatou" in which she played a young woman in love with a man played by 石坂浩二/Koji Ishizaka. She was adorable on that show...
Oh, and the song's title is pronounced おおしょうぶ instead of だいしょうぶ.
Morning, Kaz.
DeleteYeah, she certainly stood out in the geinokai in general. Since I didn't watch any Japanese dramas at the time, her appearance as a singer had been the only impression that I had about her. She still has plenty of gusto.
Thanks for the correction, by the way.
Here's the theme song to the drama. One of the best performances of Chiita's long career IMHO.
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/STy67GxqVZY
FWIW *my* "is that a lady or a dude?!!" perplexion as a kid in the seventies was Sagara Naomi. Wasn't until I saw her hosting TV music shows dressed in evening gowns. The times she dressed in pants and sneakers, I was like... ???
ReplyDeleteInterestingly I NEVER had that issue with Wada Akiko. Peeps in later years would make fun of her in that vein and yeah, har har but y'all never saw her perform in the early seventies.
Yeah, I had the same reaction with Sagara as well although she seemed to have disappeared from the limelight rather early in my lifetime. For just a little bit, I had also been wondering the same with Kenichi Mikawa. But there was no problem with Akiko Wada although I remember that she got a lot of ribbing on comedy shows such as "Zen'in Shuugo".
Delete