Kosetsu Minami -- Ai Suru Hito e（愛する人へ）

 

Met up earlier today with my friend Gary and a few others at Santouka for a ramen lunch. I don't get a chance to go out all that much so it's always nice when the opportunity arises. Now, I remember that Gary enjoys some of the Japanese folk from yesteryear, so let's see if there's anything here.

Well, I did find something from veteran singer-songwriter Kosetsu Minami（南こうせつ）. The last time I wrote about him was back in 2023 when I discovered that he had been the one to sing one of my long lost memories in the form of his 3rd single from June 1977, "Natsu no Shojo"（夏の少女）. I'd been wondering about that song whose title and singer I hadn't been able to hear on the well-worn Canadian Tire tape for decades before I got to hear it once more on "Uta Con"（うたコン）. It's also on Minami's 3rd original album "Ima Kokoro no Mama ni"（今こころのままに...Now In My Heart） which also came out in June 1977.

What's also on that album is his 2nd single, "Ai Suru Hito e" (To the One I Love), which was released in January 1977. A laconic ballad written by Osami Okamoto（岡本おさみ）and composed by Minami, it's a bittersweet but determined reassurance by one man to his beloved that he'll keep her safe, no matter how horrible things are out in the cruel world. Considering the situation in the world right now, perhaps "Ai Suru Hito e" can be said to be rather timeless. The song reached No. 29 on Oricon.