The Square -- Sister Marian

 

Earlier today, Masa put out his latest video today and he may answer a question that I and perhaps a lot of City Pop fans have had ever since this music exploded on YouTube a few years ago: Why does City Pop sound so nostalgic to a lot of people who weren't even born when this Japanese-created umbrella of urban genres first took root?

According to Masa, part of it has to do with the fact that composer Koji Kondo who long ago helped out with the music for the Nintendo games "Super Mario" and "Zelda" came up with the various musical excerpts to signify "Game Over" and the like, and they were done like City Pop tunes. For me personally, I had been around even before the inspirations behind City Pop came into being (and yes, please feel free to carbon date me), so the nostalgic factor for the umbrella was all because I used to listen to those inspirations including the Doobie Brothers' "What A Fool Believes" and Steely Dan's songs on the radio.

Still, I'm wondering whether certain chords used in the City Pop oeuvre have some sort of psychological effect on people to make them feel nostalgic and get that urge to grab a Perrier and head to a beach after 6 pm.😑

However, one other thing that I gleaned from Masa's video is the discovery of another wonderful song. As even he stated, The Square's "Sister Marian" from the fusion band's April 1984 album "Adventures" isn't a City Pop tune per se. However, it is pure fusion pleasure that apparently was an inspiration for Kondo to make something similar for one of those Nintendo games. Imagine...Super Mario and Princess Peach in their carts reaching a seaside café and sipping on them margaritas while listening to this one. We can all thank The Square's guitarist Masahiro Ando（安藤まさひろ）for some relaxing and cocktail-friendly music here, although my compliments also go to saxophonist Takeshi Ito（伊東たけし）. According to the comments underneath the video, it is apparent that there had already been folks who made the Super Mario and The Square connection years back.