The Kalua -- Futari no Serenade（二人のセレネード）

 

Several months ago, I wrote about a singer by the name of Masako Miyazaki（宮崎正子）who had done a cover of Neil Sedaka's 1975 "The Hungry Years" through her debut album "Get My Wave" in 1978. Miyazaki, who's known as a jazz singer, gives a particularly poignant pop version.

I also noted that before Miyazaki went solo, she had once belonged to a vocal group known as The Kalua（ザ・カルア）which originated from a music circle at Keio University back in the early 1970s. The circle itself had been in existence since around 1954. There's very little information on the group and I think most of it is up in that paragraph near the bottom of that Miyazaki article. Mind you, according to the Discogs website, The Kalua apparently released at least two singles and one album, all in 1971.

One of those singles is "Futari no Serenade" (Serenade for Two) is a light pop (maybe Sunshine Pop) song performed by the group. The harmonized vocals reminded me of the work that would be performed by later groups such as Hi-Fi Set（ハイファイセット）and Circus（サーカス）, and maybe there is even a bit of The New Christy Minstrels that I sometimes heard on radio as a kid.

Michio Yamagami（山上路夫）provided the Japanese lyrics to "Futari no Serenade" which is actually a cover of "Serenade" by the Belgian band Wallace Collection. Two of the members, Sylvain Vanholme and Raymond Vincent, along with Australian record producer and arranger David Mackay helped create the 1970 "Serenade" which begins with almost two minutes of what sounds like Baroque pop flourish before the singers actually start. Wallace Collection had its run between 1968 and 1971.