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NHK's "Uta Con"（うたコン）had its final episode today before going on summer hiatus for the next month, and it was one of their quieter ones with just the hosts and a few guests sitting in a virtual living room. One of the guests, though, was one of Japan's most prolific lyricists Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）, and the theme was on his songs since he's celebrating his 55th anniversary in songwriting this year.
It was almost a decade ago that I posted a Creator article on Matsumoto so you can take a look at some of the songs that he wrote for other singers there. He's supposedly written more than 2,000 songs, so what I have of his creations here on KKP is barely a little over 10%, and to add onto that 10%, I have here a Matsumoto-penned song for Kiyoshi Hikawa（氷川きよし）...his 41st single from this month, to be precise.
Hikawa did perform "Shiro Suiren" (White Water Lilies) on "Uta Con", and listening to that performance and the above YouTube video, it's quite the different animal from the enka that the singer has usually done. Yes, I know that he has fully plunged into other genres such as rock over the past several years, but "Shiro Suiren" might come off as the most purely pop song that I've ever heard from him; in fact, I'm wondering if it could even be a form of new New Music. The composer for the song is TAKURO, the leader of the rock band GLAY.
I really like the idea of this being 'New Music' or maybe even ballad-like rather than Pop. I think pop can kind of be a bit of a vague category that covers a wide range of styles. Okay, I also know 'New Music' can also cover more than one style of music.
ReplyDeleteI think especially in Japan, basic music genres cast a much wider net than in other countries.
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