Chika Ueda + Karyobin -- Minuet（メヌエット）

 

Not sure if Kayo Grace and Mr. Calico have quite mastered the minuet but they're certainly giving it the college try.

I was listening to some of the discography of the late singer-songwriter Chika Ueda（上田知華）the other night, and realized that the last time I wrote about her and her group of string musicians KARYOBIN was over a year ago when I posted "Avenue"（アヴェニュー）from their December 1981 album "Miss Heart". Ueda and KARYOBIN were one of the prime examples of Fashion Music in my honest opinion, and so I opted to go even further back to their very beginnings.

And indeed, their first single from August 1978 was the aptly-named "Minuet" after the French social dance of a few hundred years ago. Right from the beginning, Ueda really stood out for her vocal abilities while her piano and KARYOBIN bring out this lush sound that could have had listeners swaying in their chairs. Maybe some of them could have even tried the actual dance.

Once again, I have to admit to some uncertainty but this time, it has something to do with where "Minuet" was featured. The song wasn't used as the theme for the 1978 TBS drama "Sannan Sanjo Muko Ippiki"（三男三女婿一匹...Three Sons, Three Daughters and One Son-In-Law） that had a three-season run between 1976 and 1980 but it was performed by Ueda (and presumably KARYOBIN) in one episode in the second season. However, I'm not sure whether it was the appearance that sparked Ueda and KARYOBIN to launch their music career or the show had given them further opportunity to reveal themselves to the masses after already beginning their time together. The above video has a brief scene of "Sannan Sanjo Muko Ippiki" starring the veteran actor Hisaya Morishige（森繫久彌）but isn't the one that has Ueda singing "Minuet". Looking at the setting though, I think the song was a good match for the show.