Yuuto Tatsumi -- Otoko no Junjou（おとこの純情）

(short version)

For some years now, I've seen enka singer Kiyoshi Hikawa（氷川きよし）as being the young prince of the genre, and as the average age of enka singers goes, indeed, the lad is still plenty fresh-faced although he's been going for a slightly more glam rock image recently. Still, Hikawa has passed the age of 40 so I can hardly call him a wunderkind of enka anymore.

Perhaps that label may be placed on the above fellow. I don't have much information on Osaka-born Yuuto Tatsumi（辰巳ゆうと）, but I have seen him on the two NHK music shows "Uta Kon"（うたコン）and "Gogo Uta"（ごごウタ）in the past couple of weeks. Apparently, he's just skirting the age of 20 and is currently a university student but he's been on the up-and-up about his enka career. He released his debut single "Shitamachi Junjou"（下町純情...Pure Heart of Downtown）last year, and earlier in March this year, his second single, "Otoko no Junjou" (Pure Heart of a Man), came out.

Written by Kyosuke Kuni（久仁京介）and composed by Koji Tokuhisa（徳久広司）, Tatsumi puts in a lot of brio into "Otoko no Junjou" but his voice still has that certain higher adolescent tone in his delivery which kinda reminds me of Hikawa. As for the song itself, there is also something in the arrangement that also has me reminiscing about "Yokohama Tasogare"（よこはま・たそがれ）, the classic by Hiroshi Itsuki（五木ひろし）.

It looks like another prince of enka has entered the court. May he enjoy his reign in the not-too-distant future.