Azumi Inoue -- Sanpo（さんぽ）

 

"Uta Con"（うたコン）is off for another week so when I turned on Jme this morning, there was a special called "Ghibli no Uta"（ジブリのうた...Ghibli Songs） on NHK. Basically, the title said it all: it was all about the magical theme songs from the many Studio Ghibli movies over the decades. Plus, the backdrop for the performances was logically the Ghibli Museum in Tokyo.

Not being all that huge a Ghibli fan, I've never visited the museum myself and I have heard that getting tickets is almost as difficult as pushing Totoro into a Jenny Craig programme although a few of my friends were able to get them and visit the place. But I think whoever came up with the idea for it was pretty smart in limiting the numbers since I think the magic can be retained by not having Disneyland-level numbers of rambunctious kids and adults clambering all over the exhibits. By the way, the video above comes from the YouTube channel Always, Ros.

For the fans, "Ghibli no Uta" on NHK must have had them swooning as at least some of the original singers were back to sing their contributions to the Hayao Miyazaki（宮崎駿）ethos. To be honest, I was midway through my oatmeal and therefore not watching the screen when I heard the familiar adorable tones of the opening theme march from the 1988 "Tonari no Totoro"（となりのトトロ）, "Sanpo" (Stroll), by Azumi Inoue（井上あずみ）. I mean, how could this not have every kid under the age of seven automatically marching throughout the living room while the opening credits are playing or when Inoue performs this on stage? 

Written by children's book writer Rieko Nakagawa（中川李枝子）and composed/arranged by Joe Hisaishi（久石譲）, it's no surprise that "Sanpo" has been included in elementary school textbooks from time to time, and the argument has gone on about whether the song is an anison or a douyou（童謡...children's song）. Why not both? Everyone knows about the ending theme but "Sanpo" is still going to be the song that gets kids and their parents up and at 'em.

Personally though, I think my highlight from the show was "Jinsei no Merry-Go-Round"（人生のメリーゴーランド）as performed by an interpretive dancer. Dang, those lightning-quick hand moves really woke me up.