Welcome to the penultimate Sunday in November. Over here, we know the Holidays are just around the corner when American Thanksgiving is a few days away and the Santa Claus parade is taking place in downtown Toronto as I type this. Mind you, the stores and malls have already been playing Christmas music for a few weeks.
Nothing Xmas-y here since I won't be starting anything of the Yuletide variety until November 25th. In fact, even for singer-songwriter Kuniko Fukushima（福島邦子）, this is something out of the ordinary. I've already put up a fair number of her songs over the years onto KKP and they've usually been of bluesy City Pop.
This time, though, I bring you to her track "Magical House" from her October 1982 fourth album "Mugen"（夢幻...Visions）. And this time, Fukushima's creation is more New Wave peppy with a hint of Asian exoticism as if we're being treated to a whirlwind tour of Hong Kong or Taipei. Plus, Kuniko herself sings "Magical House" as if she's the sultry mistress of the residence. And that's as far as I will go with my insights.
The very beginning riff of this song (that shows up else where in the song) sounds like it is relying on the pentatonic scale and parallel open fourths to make it sound so very stereotypically ethnic. and I can't tell if it’s trying to sound like traditional Arabic music or Chinese music, but after song goes into a much more funky pop beat!
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