Ukadan -- Osaka Big River Blues（大阪ビッグ・リバー・ブルース）

 

Kinda having the Microsoft Office activation blues right now. I tried to activate the key and it wouldn't open for me. In a way, I guess it's almost heartbreakingly romantic.

Well, for that reason and for the fact that it is Hump Day today, perhaps I can bring in a bit of blues. However, seeing that title "Osaka Big River Blues", one might think that this would be a Japanese band going for some of that American blues sound. But it's not quite that cut and dry.

By the way, the band behind "Osaka Big River Blues" is Ukadan（憂歌団）which does translate directly into Melancholy Song Group...namely a blues band. Consisting of vocalist/guitarist Atsuki Kimura（木村充揮）, lead guitarist Kantaro Uchida（内田勘太郎）, bassist Kenji Hanaoka（花岡献治）and drummer Kazuo Shimada（島田和夫）, the group originated with the first two members in 1970 with their first performance behind held at the cultural festival at Osaka Prefectural Technical High School where three of the members had been enrolled. After high school, Ukadan picked up gigs at local coffee shops.

Their first single was released in 1975 and their eleventh happened to be "Osaka Big River Blues" from May 1988, and at least with this single, the blues is mixed in with some other genres such as City Pop and AOR. It goes down very smooth (and late 80s) like a Bailey's Irish Cream (sorry, can't do straight whiskey) through the melody by Hitoshi Haba（羽場仁志）and the lyrics of Chinfa Kan（康珍化）which involve a couple having one final stroll one evening in Osaka before breaking up for good. It's a sad situation to be sure, but at least the music accompanying these soon-to-be former lovebirds is fine and wistful.

Also, one other sad note is original members Shimada and Hanaoka passed away in 2012 and 2024 respectively. In addition, I'd like to thank podcaster Rocket Brown who first recommended "Osaka Big River Blues" on Discord a few months ago.