Kayoko Tachibana -- S-M-I-L-ing Face

From Good Free Photos

 

Over the years that we've been doing "Kayo Kyoku Plus", we've appreciated almost all of the comments from fellow Japanese music fans that we've gotten (except the spam, of course) and hey, a few of the commenters have even become KKP contributors and friends in the nearly dozen years we've been up. It's not everyday though that we actually get comments from the singers that we've been covering. However, earlier this afternoon, I was happy and humbled to receive one such comment.

A few years ago in the summer of 2020, I posted an article on the short-lived band Kaja（カヤ）which was around during the turn of the decade from the 1970s to the 1980s at the recommendation of commenter Mike, and I enjoyed Kaja's 1981 single, the all-is-good summery "Marine Blue Sky"（マリン⠂Blue ⠂スカイ）. Well, I was surprised to get a reply from the vocalist and lyricist for Kaja, Kayoko Tachibana（立花賀曜子）née Ono, and I gather that she was also surprised to see an English-language article on her old band and single. You can head over to the article for "Marine Blue Sky" to see her comment and how she's been doing over the past few years.

In the meantime, Ms. Tachibana was kind enough to lead me to her YouTube channel and an album that she recorded back in 2017 titled "S-M-I-L-ing Face". It's a tribute to her husband, Norihiko（立花紀彦）, who was also her Kaja bandmate, and I've been enjoying the title track very much, especially since I am also a bossa nova and jazz fan. And for those who know me very well, you know how much of a sucker I am for harmonica solos. We may have just left summer but it's songs like these that can keep the hot season going. Additionally, I'm also hoping that commenter Mike will somehow see Kayoko's comment and this article.