Masao Sen -- Jinsei ni Kanpai（人生に乾杯）

Happy Monday! It's been a few decades but I've wondered what it must have been like for my parents and their Japanese friends when they attended that Toronto special concert featuring enka singer Masao Sen（千昌夫）and his then-wife Joan Shepherd. As I've said before, we simply didn't get any of the big kayo singers here in this city unless they had happened to be doing a gig in New York City (it's only a 1-hour flight from The Big Apple to The 6ix) the day before.

But Sen and his wife did show up and in the past, there have even been visits by Hiroshi Itsuki （五木ひろし）and Sachiko Kobayashi（小林幸子）. Of course, the audience dressed up to the nines and maybe even the tens to show up for such geinokai royalty.

(guide vocal version)

The other day on NHK's "Songs of Japanese Spirit", Sen appeared to sing this jaunty and boisterous enka/kayo tune called "Jinsei ni Kanpai" (A Toast to Life). On first listening to it, I'd assumed that it was one of his older hits from, let's say the 1970s, along the lines of his trademark "Kitaguni no Haru"（北国の春）.

As it turns out, though, "Jinsei ni Kanpai" was actually released last August in 2019 as his 52nd single, but it was created by the same duo that came up with "Kitaguni no Haru" all the way back in 1977. Lyricist Haku Ide（いではく）and composer Minoru Endo（遠藤実）were responsible for Sen's encouragement to all to live that life full of vim and vigour while shedding all that nonsense about the aging process. Mind you, Endo passed away in 2008 (though Ide is still alive) so I'm wondering if "Jinsei ni Kanpai" was a song that was just languishing somewhere for years before it got its time at bat.

Methinks that this particular song must be quite the popular tune in the karaoke boxes for the senior set (or will be again once the pandemic ends), and while listening or singing it at home, Ide's lyrics may strike a pleasant chord for folks remaining safely sheltered. I'm sure that once the all-clear is given, all of us will be willing to give a toast to life.