Kyoko Aso -- Hungaria Rock ~ Franz Lizst Twist（ハンガリア・ロック）

 

I would like to humbly thank the late Tony Bennett for his appearance in singing "Stranger in Paradise" originally from 1953. But did you know that this pop ballad was based on Alexander Borodin's "Gliding Dance of the Maidens" from the "Polovtsian Dances" in the opera "Prince Igor" (1890)? No? I wouldn't blame you. I had no idea about it myself until I saw the commercial for "120 Music Masterpieces" back in the 1970s when I was a child. My childhood was complete and the old guy's line about "Stranger in Paradise" became a punchline for many a late-night comedian.

Well, I'm putting my own contemporary twist on the above by first introducing pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii's version of "Liebesträume No. 3" (1850) by Franz Liszt. It's also known in Japanese as "Ai no Yume"（愛の夢）. I've heard this nocturne before many times but because I'm not a classical music fan, this is really the first time that I've had it identified for me. 

But did you know that "Liebesträume No. 3" was given its own twist into its own twist in April 1962 in Japan when teenage firebrand Kyoko Aso（麻生京子）recorded a rearranged version called "Hungaria Rock ~ Franz Liszt Twist"? Given lyrics by Kenji Sazanami（漣健児）and arranged by Hajime Hayashi（林一）*, Liszt got lit and made into a twist with the accompaniment of Toshiro Hamamizu and his Gay Stars（浜水俊朗とゲイ・スターズ）. The percussion is really cooking here.

There's not much information on Aso unfortunately, From one site, I found out that she hails from Tokyo and that she was all of 19 when she applied her raspy voice to "Hungaria Rock". She was also captain of her basketball team back in high school.

*Not totally sure of the pronunciation of this name.