Taro Hakase -- Jounetsu Tairiku（情熱大陸）/Kei Haneoka -- Muscle Queen

 

Violinist extraordinaire Taro Hakase（葉加瀬太郎）is someone that has been mentioned on the pages of KKP because of his work within the musical trio KRYZLER & KOMPANY. I've also noted that I used to see him a fair bit on television in Japan not only for his performances but also as a tarento along with his wife Mayuko Takada（髙田万由子）. What I hadn't known was that both of them could speak English as they are doing above while being interviewed by the BBC several years ago.

I saw him last week, in fact, as a guest on the popular NHK information variety series "Chiko-chan ni Shikarareru!"（チコちゃんに叱られる!...Don't Sleep Through Life!）. He was as charming and amiable as ever, and I was reminded of a song that he composed and performed as a soloist years ago which hit me through the airwaves. I never saw the TBS late-night human interest program "Jounetsu Tairiku" (Continent of Passion) which began in 1998 but I think that its theme with the same title has become even more well-known than the program itself and apparently it has become one of Hakase's most famous pieces. According to J-Wiki, though, the song wasn't used until over half a year into the program's run.

To be honest, I thought "Jounetsu Tairiku" was something that was used in commercials, and it probably was used in the ads for the source program. It's quite the heroic and snazzy number with the salsa and good dollops of jazz solos accompanying Hakase's wicked playing. Perhaps it's safe to say that it can almost be like his own theme tune. "Jounetsu Tairiku" has been placed onto the violinist's album "Songbook" released in 2021.

"Jounetsu Tairiku" has also been one of the many songs that were ripe for clever parody by composer Kei Haneoka（羽岡佳）for the anime "Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai"（かぐや様は告らせたい...Kaguya-sama: Love is War）. Given the unlikely title of "Muscle Queen" due to a new nickname give to the title character herself in Season 3 last year, it's unmistakably a tribute to Hakase, and it's a part of "KAGUYA Music Collection Season 3" which came out at the end of March this year.

However, I remember "Muscle Queen" being played for another notorious scene in Season 3. Sigh...young people these days; no sense of control.😋