Since I began the Mayumi Asaka（朝加真由美）file back in 2023, I've learned that the Hokkaido-born entertainer had been a singer of City Pop and then jazz in the 1980s. She was also and remains an actress and according to her J-Wiki article, her first dramatic role was in a 1973 episode of "Ultraman Taro"（ウルトラマンタロウ）as heroine Saori Shiratori（白鳥さおり）when she was a teen.
Well, I guess we've come full circle then, because I am providing her very first single which was released in August 1973. Her name back then was rendered all in hiragana（あさかまゆみ）and stayed so for the first couple of years in her career before reverting to the whole kanji route. But getting back to that debut song, it was "Niji Iro no Yume" (Rainbow Dreams) and as the title sounds, the down-home country-style melody by composer Koichi Morita（森田公一）and arranger Koji Makaino（馬飼野康二）is a very upbeat tune fit for an aidoru of that time although she hasn't been categorized as such on J-Wiki. However, I still get these Mari Amachi（天地真理）vibes after listening to the song a few times. Yu Aku（阿久悠）was responsible for the lyrics.
I think “虹色の夢” belongs to the early-1970s “fresh young girl” school of kayōkyoku, with a noticeable folk-pop character rather than the heavier orchestral style that became common later in the decade. On online shop describes it as 爽やかフォーキーPOPS see: https://shiosairec.thebase.in/items/40351821
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that 1973 was an extraordinary year for that market—Momoe Yamaguchi, Junko Sakurada, Agnes Chan, Mari Amachi, Megumi Asaoka and others were either emerging or enormously visible.
Hello, Brian. Yep, I think the "fresh young girl" is the very apt description for this song. I can just imagine young Mayumi skipping in the meadow trying to catch butterflies while this song is playing. "Refreshing folky pops" is also a good adage. I guess 1972 or 1973 was the bumper crop year for 70s aidoru.
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