Mio Honda -- Ai Dancer/Dreamy Night（哀ダンサー～・ドリーミー・ナイト）

 

In December last year, I introduced singer Mio Honda（本田美緒）, thanks to her languid "Monochrome Fantasy"（モノクローム・ファンタジー）, her contribution to the mid-1980s anime adaptation of Seizo Watase's（わたせせいぞう）"Heart Cocktail"（ハートカクテル）. Just bring out the hammock and the Orange Mimosa. Well, at least it didn't take years for this article to be made...just months.

Well, her debut single in November 1982 was "Ai Dancer" or "Kanashii Dancer" (Sad Dancer), however the kanji is pronounced (let me know if I need to make any corrections). This was an award winner for Honda at a number of contests including the 13th World Kayo Festival and it's a samba-powered number about a dancer's history of one-night stands which was written and composed by singer-songwriter Mitsue Ohshiro（大城光恵）. Ohshiro was all of 17 years of age when she offered this one to Honda. Well, as they say, knowledge is half the battle.

Anyways, the samba flavour in "Ai Dancer" reminded me of a few other similarly arranged hits from around the same time such as Southern All Stars'（サザンオールスターズ）"Niji Iro The Night Club"（匂艶「にじいろ」THE NIGHT CLUB） and Hiromi Go's（郷ひろみ）"Oyome Samba"（お嫁サンバ）. So, I gather that the Brazilian music genre was quite popular back then for those dance emporium-themed tunes in high-flying Japan back then.

The B-side to "Ai Dancer" was also included in the video above at 3:58, so let me tackle that one, too. "Dreamy Night" is a much more sedate song but also in the City Pop vein. Written and composed by Sumiko Okazaki（岡崎朱美子）with some assistance from Honda in the melody, this feels like the dancer heading up to the roof at about 5 am to cool off her feet and watch the refreshing sunrise.

I would also like to note that composer Ohshiro passed away earlier this February at the age of 57 from cancer. My condolences to her family and friends.