Ayako Fuji/Saburo Kitajima -- Onna ga Hitori（女がひとり）

 

Being August and all, a lot of the usual programs on TV Japan have been on hiatus and that includes "Uta Con"（うたコン）. I don't think that I've seen or heard a single enka tune on the channel in the last few weeks which is a bit unusual.

However, YouTube is still here to provide all sorts of Japanese pop music, and thankfully we have this elegant enka by Ayako Fuji（藤あや子）titled "Onna ga Hitori" (A Woman Alone). It's not only her most recent (48th) single from April this year but a single to commemorate the enka singer's 35th anniversary in show business. Written and composed by legend Saburo Kitajima（北島三郎）under his songwriting alias of Joji Hara（原譲二）, it's a truly traditional tune telling of a woman managing to go on following what sounds like the passing of the love of her life.

Fuji's "Onna ga Hitori" also happens to be a cover version of the original performed by Kitajima himself all the way back in 1985. In fact, "Onna no Hitori" was the B-side to Sabu-chan's "Juu-Kyu no Matsuri"（十九のまつり...Festival at 19）released in November of that year. Compared to the elegance of Fuji's cover, Kitajima's original has some of that quintessential brio that the legend has often brought to his enka, including that proud trumpet and his own vocals.