Shota Shimizu -- Koiuta（恋唄）

 

Last week on NHK's "Uta Con"（うたコン）, I had the privilege of hearing a singer that I'd never seen before on the show whose voice was truly golden.

Singer-songwriter Shota Shimizu（清水翔太）hails from Osaka and according to his Wikipedia file, he brought down the house at the Apollo Theater where he performed for a second time in November 2008 doing his rendition of the kayo classic "Ue wo Muite Arukou" (上を向いて歩こう) . He's had a love for gospel and soul music, and when I heard him sing on "Uta Con" last Tuesday, I swear that he sounded like another one of my favourites, Chikuzen Sato（佐藤竹善）of Sing Like Talking who has also dabbled in those same two genres.

Having his singing career for around 13 years, his latest single in the form of a digital download is "Koiuta" (Love Song), a most comfortable warm wool blanket of a ballad that came out last month. I've read that his past songs have done quite well so I'm interested in giving those a try. Considering how Sato solo and with Sing Like Talking have also come out with some funky barnburners, I would love to hear whether Shimizu has also put out some really uptempo tunes, but as it is, I think something as "unplugged" as "Koiuta" is also wonderful to marvel.