Tan Tan -- Weekend Love

 

The old photo above is a night shot of Greektown on The Danforth in Toronto. Some friends and I often went to one of the restaurants there whether it be Mr. Greek or Pappa's Grill on a Friday night, no matter the season. Restaurants have begun to open up again slowly and so once the weather gets warmer, I'm hoping that a visit to The Danforth will be possible.

I've mentioned about the late singer Taeko Morino（森野多恵子）in previous articles on "Kayo Kyoku Plus". She started out as one of the members of the Group Sounds band, The White Kicks（ザ・ホワイト・キックス）, in the late 1960s, and then in the 1980s, she embraced the genre of techno jazz under the name of Harumi Ohzora（大空はるみ）. But in between Morino and Ohzora, she had been known as Tan Tan in the 1970s and very early 80s.

Plus the music that she covered under that particular stage name was urban contemporary via City Pop and R&B. I have written about one song that she recorded as Tan Tan, the album track "Bring Me Your Broken Heart" from 1978. Tonight, I have for you her lone single that she released in August 1981, "Weekend Love". Written by Yoichiro Fukuda（福田陽一郎）, composed by Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）and arranged by Masaaki Omura（大村雅朗）, it's got that balance among City Pop, jazz and Fashion Music thanks to Tan Tan's languid vocals and the somewhat lighthearted high-time-in-the-city and jazzy combination in the music. This sounds more like uptown rather than downtown, perhaps higher up in the expense account-happy nightclubs in the skyscrapers.

Once again, as a friendly reminder, all songs by her are under the blanket label of Harumi Ohzora since it was through her techno jazz material that I first discovered her.