The last time I posted a Yoshie Kashiwabara（柏原芳恵）article was back in 2023 so KKP is due for a new one on the Osaka-born singer. Plus, I've started to get into the habit of checking out the B-sides for certain singers' big hits. You might say that I'm giving them their own due by bringing them outside of the A-sides' shadow.
Well, the very first Yoshie song that I ever wrote about on the blog was her major hit "Haru Nanoni" (春なのに）from January 1983. It was written and composed by Miyuki Nakajima（中島みゆき）and arranged by Katsuhisa Hattori（服部克久）so it definitely had that very refined and classical sense.
Nakajima and Hattori brought the same approach to the B-side, "Nagisa Dayori" (Correspondence from the Beach). Slightly more upbeat than "Haru Nanoni", it's still rather melancholy as a young woman recalls the romance that she once had but no longer does. Those strings are still blisteringly shimmering.
The thing is that Kashiwabara's poignant rendition of "Nagisa Dayori" is actually a cover of Nakajima's folksier original song which was a track from her April 1976 debut album "Watashi no Koe wo Kikoemasu ka"（私の声が聞こえますか...Can You Hear My Voice?）, The album reached No. 10 on Oricon. For both versions, there's something in the arrangement that reminds me of the early songs of Rumiko Koyanagi（小柳ルミ子）.
I can see that we have yet another connection to 1976 and this was a bit of a surprise as I did not know that 中島みゆき began her career in 1976 nor did I know she created the song 春なのに for Yoshie.
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