Yuka Noda -- Carib no Yume（カリブの夢）

 

Back in August, I'd gone on a bit of an odyssey covering Dr. Dragon and Oriental Express'（Dr.ドラゴン&オリエンタル・エクスプレス）original "Carib no Yume" (Caribbean Dream) from 1976. Dr. Dragon was one of the stage names that the legendary composer Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）used to embrace his inner funkiness, and he came up with this disco express, and after I'd written about that tune, I discovered that there were at least two covers of the song by vocal group Duke Aces（デューク・エイセス）and the band Pedro & Capricious（ペドロ&カプリシャス）.

But then I noticed this other song on YouTube titled "Carib no Yume". Naturally assuming that it was another cover of the Dr. Dragon tune, I played it and got something totally different. Performed by keyboardist Yuka Noda（野田ユカ）for her 1989 album of the same name, the composer was Eriko Tsukayama（塚山エリコ）and it's also an instrumental, albeit one of atmospheric and sunny Caribbean exploration via the fusion genre. It's more open-air touring than strobe-light disco.

There isn't a whole lot of information on Noda except that her career may have begun with participation in the All-Japan Electone Competition in 1981, after which she appeared on a number of programs to perform. She enjoys the genres of pop, jazz and Latin.