Akihiro Miwa -- Jingle Bells（ジングル・ベル）

 

Well, my Sunday is one of the more refreshing ones that I've had in a while. The modem odyssey was finally resolved yesterday with the technician coming over; apparently it's one of the best devices according to him and a few other online articles. My Skype student was looking very clear last night. Also, Swiftie mania finally finished on Saturday when Taylor Swift held the last of her six concerts here in Toronto.

But a new season begins today. The annual Santa Claus parade will be taking place today in downtown Toronto for the 120th time (the highlight video above is from last year) which means that the Xmas season is now in full gear.

Of course, that means "Kayo Kyoku Plus" is now in Christmas mode, too. So for the next four weeks, viewers will be getting the occasional J-Xmas tune thrown in along with the regular stuff. I'm actually starting a day early because I usually begin from November 25th but with the Santa Claus parade heralding Season's Greetings today, I just went, "Heck, why not?".

The season will begin with a bit of an unusual choice because I had never expected singer and raconteur Akihiro Miwa（美輪明宏）to sing an old classic like "Jingle Bells". Most of the time, I've seen him over the decades chatting it up on talk shows and giving a rare scolding to an errant tarento but I have seen him perform chanson and tunes that I would probably say verge on the operatic and art poppish. He's already up on KKP with his 1965 "Yoitomake no Uta"（ヨイトマケの唄）.

However, years earlier, a young Miwa when he was going by the name of Akihiro Maruyama（丸山明宏）until 1971, released a first mini-album in September 1957 titled "ME-QUE ME-QUE"（メケ・メケ）, and among the tracks was his rendition of "Jingle Bells". I first found out about Miwa's version via Scott's "Holly Jolly X'masu" podcast so I should give him thanks for that; unfortunately, I don't remember which episode it was.  Anyways, it's quite the tour de force performance by Miwa with a jaunty country-style arrangement by Ryoichi Hattori（服部良一）and lyrics by Miwa himself. The singer practically demands that everyone join him in a singalong which would be further emphasized by everyone getting out of their seats and doing an old-fashioned dance in the saloon. By the way, "ME-QUE ME-QUE" got a re-release in 2014.