Emu -- Tooku e（遠くへ…）

 

Emu（絵夢）is the stage name of a singer-songwriter from Nagano Prefecture whose real name is Toshiko Ohinata（大日方敏子）, a name which also belongs to an older lyricist and music producer. I gather that may have been the reason that the Nagano-born singer wanted to take on a pseudonym, and before anyone asks, Emu has nothing to do with the famous flightless bird, and in fact, the kanji means "picture dream".

Soon after graduating from junior high school, Emu came up to Tokyo and on dropping out of high school, she got into singing. In 1974, she entered the National Folk Music Festival and made her debut a year later with "Shoushin"（傷心...Heartbreak）.

Her 2nd single is the subject of this article tonight, and it is "Tooku e" (Far Off) released in March 1976. Launching with quite the impression due to a bluesy folk/rock sound by Emu, her lyrics relate the story of a woman who's going through some tough times and not even able to gain any enjoyment from the drink that she's nursing. "Tooku e" has that blast from the past with the psychedelic rock and as we approach the coda, I swear that Emu was inheriting some of the spirit of Janis Joplin when she recorded it. I could imagine that Minako Yoshida（吉田美奈子）would have tackled this one if she had gone in a similar direction instead of going into R&B. 

Emu released 6 singles and 5 albums all in the 1970s with "Tooku e" being a part of Emu's 2nd album "Emu II" from February 1976.