Meiko Nakahara -- Arashi no Naka e（嵐の中へ）

 

It was one of those lucky happenstances that I was on Twitter or Discord a few days ago when I saw someone note that singer-songwriter Meiko Nakahara（中原めいこ）recently celebrated a birthday on May 8th. So, a Happy Birthday to her wherever she may be, whatever she has been doing for the last few decades.

A bit ironic, too, because my last article on her was back on January 30th this year. For the article, I chose her "Happy Birthday, Love for You" since that date happens to be the birthday for "Kayo Kyoku Plus", and now I'm sending the same sentiments to Nakahara.

For today, though, I'm going with "Arashi no Naka e" (Into the Storm) which is a track on her tenth and final studio album to date, "On the Planet" from October 1991, and no, it isn't a City Pop song by any means, nor is it a general pop song either. In fact, it's quite the salsa fun fest tempered by some contemporary Fender Rhodes that was indeed written and composed by Nakahara. The Latin beat reminds me of the first song that I had ever heard by her, "Kimi Tachi Kiwi Papaya Mango da ne" （君たちキウイ・パパヤ・マンゴだね）, although I think in comparison to that fruit-themed blast, the singer is slightly more subdued in her delivery here.