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| From Nekosuki via Wikimedia Commons |
Although I have visited Wakayama Prefecture which is the home of my ancestors, I have yet to visit its World Heritage Sites including roads and shrines associated with the Kumano Kodo（熊野古道）series of pilgrimage routes that are located in Wakayama, Mie and Nara Prefectures.
Enka singer Fuyumi Sakamoto（坂本冬美）is another star from Wakayama Prefecture, and as her September 2018 single, she released "Kumanoji e" (To the Kumano Road). Written and composed by fellow enka singer Ikuzo Yoshi（吉幾三）with Kei Wakakusa（若草恵）as the arranger, "Kumanoji e" launches with an epic intro that doesn't really sound like one for a conventional enka song. It sounds more like something for a pop/rock tune although it quickly settles down into an introspective set of verses before the dramatic chorus chimes in. Still, the instrumental bridge is just as epic as the intro and there's even some added oomph at the end of that bridge with what sounds like a thrumming synthesizer. Yoshi and Wakakusa really wanted to fortify this one. "Kumanoji e" reached No. 54 on Oricon.
Yoshi provided his own slightly quieter cover of the song in the same year.
J-Canuck after reading this I wonder did you speak the Kishū dialect「紀州弁」with family? And, have visited Mount Kōya? I am not sure if this is true but I heard that In a 2017 NHK Shin BS Nihon no Uta project in which Yoshi produced Sakamoto, she performed an earlier version called “Kumano Kodō” (熊野古道). And, that the response to that performance was strong enough that the song was subsequently retitled “Kumanoji e” and made the lead track of the 2018 concept release. Okay, J-Canuck you did a great job of post zeroing in on what makes the recording stand out. You point is well taken! Instead of beginning with a stereotypical restrained enka introduction, it opens with a large, almost pop/rock-orchestral gesture. The verses then pull inward before the chorus expands dramatically again; the instrumental interlude likewise has an unusually powerful, almost synthesized pulse. The result is less “small barroom lament” and more landscape music—appropriate for a song about walking through mountains, forests and sacred roads.
ReplyDeleteHello, Brian. It's certainly an unusual beginning to an enka song, to be sure, and I'm now wondering whether Yoshi has been more of an adventurous songwriter than expected. My family does speak Kishu since even that dialect includes vocabulary that Osakans wouldn't know, probably. I've never been to Mt. Koya, unfortunately.
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