Manna -- Monsieur Dandan（ムッシュ・ダンダン）

 

If I'm not mistaken, I think it's only happened once or twice that certain singers have ended up on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" sharing the same name for which I've had to add a word or two to distinguish the acts. Well, it's happened again.

Mind you, it happened some weeks ago but with the usual backlog of songs that I've wanted to place onto the blog, I'm only describing it today. Yesterday, I wrote on MANNA's adorable and heartwarming "Onaka Suita ne"（おなかすいたね）. Now, the veteran singer's name is pronounced in Japanese as "mana"（マナ）despite the double-n in the official romaji name. However, I then discovered a duo with the same romaji name, though their pronunciation is actually "manna"（マンナ）, presumably with the stress on the double-n this time. As such, I am going to distinguish them as you will see in the Labels on the right.

Before we end up getting mired into linguistic mud, let's move on. Manna the duo consisted of musician Ryo Kamomiya（鴨宮諒）and model-turned-vocalist Motoko Kajihara（梶原もと子）. Now, if Kamomiya's name has struck a sharp memory engram, you are indeed onto something because I mentioned the former Pizzicato 5 member's name only a few days ago when I was writing about another duo, The END of the WORLD and their "Takai Sora no Machi"（高い空の街）. Yes, he was also involved in that later pair; Manna was only around in the very early 1990s...1991 to 1993, to be exact. 

In their brief time, Manna was able to put out a fairly good number of singles and albums: five of the former and three of the latter. Their debut single from September 1991 was the languid "Monsieur Dandan" as written by Kajihara and composed by Kamomiya. The duo has been labeled with the genres of pop and technopop on J-Wiki, and I can hear the latter genre in the arrangements but that title and perhaps that affecting French-sounding melody has also gotten me to throw in the Shibuya-kei genre, too. Maybe it's also the all-black wear by the pair on the cover of their first album "MANNA". They look perfect for a stroll in Daikanyama.