Happy 10th, Uta Con!（うたコン）/Hideki Saijo -- Ai no Juujika（愛の十字架）

 

First off, Happy 10th Birthday to the NHK music show "Uta Con". I saw their episode last night and it was nice not only to see some of the highlights from the past ten years but also get a tour of how the magic works at NHK Shibuya. It's amazing how quickly the years fly by...I remember when "Uta Con" got the baton passed over to it from "Kayo Concert"（歌謡コンサート）back in 2016.

Now, "Kayo Kyoku Plus" had its tenth anniversary back in 2022 so I actually pulled out most of the guns to celebrate our grand project back then, and of course, you can take a look at some of that via "10th Anniversary Special: 10th Anniversary Songs". However, I still wanted to commemorate the "Uta Con" achievement so I've opted to present a few songs over the years that have had something of the number 10 involved in the titles. I'll admit though to being a little cheat-y with my choices. But the important thing is that I also have the opportunity to present a new tune onto the blog by the late great Hideki Saijo（西城秀樹）. Anyways, without further ado:

(1984) Akina Nakamori -- Jukkai (1984) (十戒 (1984))

(1986) Minako Honda -- the Cross ~ Ai no Juujika（愛の十字架）

(1993) SMAP -- $10

As noted above, I have this Hideki Saijo tune that has that 10-ish relationship (albeit through kanji association only). This is "Ai no Juujika" (Cross of Love), his 7th single from December 1973. Indeed, it shares the same title as Honda's song above but that's the only common denominator. It is otherwise a totally different animal.

Written by Takashi Taka（たかたかし）and composed by Kunihiko Suzuki（鈴木邦彦）under Koji Makaino's（馬飼野康二）arrangement, this is also the first time for me to hear Saijo's "Ai no Juujika", and from what I hear, it's a very early Hideki song of passion and angst. It's quite the cross for him to bear and I think he's even shedding a few tears in the concert audio above. All the better for the screaming fans to rush over to comfort him. Not surprisingly, the song hit No. 1 and finished 1974 as the 22nd-ranked single.