Ichiro Fujiyama -- Ginza Serenade（銀座セレナーデ）

 

I can't say that I'm an expert on NHK's morning drama serials. However, and not surprisingly, when the 15-minute show is based on several decades ranging from prewar to postwar Japan, World War II acts as the crucible for the characters. Currently, I'm watching "Anpan"（あんぱん）and the episodes are now on the cusp of entering the war years so it'll be interesting to see who survives into the 1950s and beyond.

That did get me to thinking about what were the kayo kyoku that made their presence known in 1945 going forwards. I couldn't find anything that year that didn't have anything to do with the war effort. However, I saw that Ichiro Fujiyama（藤山一郎）was back in his crooning ways in 1946 as if nothing had changed during those previous fateful years. He released "Ginza Serenade" as a love song for those couples traipsing through the famous neighbourhood Ginza in Tokyo. 

The legendary Ryoichi Hattori（服部良一）came up with the Habanera tango melody while a fellow named Masao Murasame（村雨まさを）was behind the lyrics. Well, it was actually Hattori here, too, under a pseudonym. Not sure what inspired the songsmith to come up with a castanet-happy arrangement but it sure added a new level of oomph so I can only imagine what Ginza was already looking like in the first full year without the war. Also what caught my ear was how Fujiyama was pronouncing most of those English words.

Haruo Oka -- Tokyo no Hanauri Musume（東京の花売娘）

Regular broadcasting returned to TV Japan somewhat over this past week after all of the New Year's hijinks. This meant that Tuesday night had the kayo show come back but it wasn't NHK's "Uta Kon"（うたコン）. Instead it was another edition of kayo legend Hiroshi Itsuki's（五木ひろし）"Itsuki-sensei o Utau! SHOW Gakko"（五木先生の 歌う！SHOW学校）, the program featuring a mix of tarento and enka singers in an old-fashioned elementary school setting with Itsuki as the amiable teacher. There was the usual humour and performances of the oldies, and there was one segment paying tribute to the late singer Haruo Oka（岡晴夫）who had his heyday in the 1940s and perhaps 1950s.

The most famous song by Oka in my estimation was his 1948 "Akogare no Hawaii Koro"（憧れのハワイ航路）and from hearing some of his other songs in the tribute on Itsuki's show, I had the impression that Oka was a crooner doing some very upbeat melodies during a time when Japan realized that it had to start all over again.

One song from the tribute was "Tokyo no Hanauri Musume" (Flower Girl of Tokyo) which was recorded two years before "Akogare no Hawaii Koro" in 1946. Actually, this particular song was the middle child of five songs in Oka's own "Flower Girl" series starting with "Shanghai no Hanauri Musume"（上海の花売娘...Flower Girl of Shanghai）in 1939. All of the "Flower Girl" songs were composed by Gento Uehara（上原げんと）with the Tokyo version's lyrics provided by Yutaka Kadota（門田ゆたか）under the alias of Shio Sasa（佐々詩生）. Not particularly sure how that pseudonym is pronounced since there are a number of readings for the first name so if anyone can correct or confirm my guess at it, please do so.

"Tokyo no Hanauri Musume" is my first exposure to the "Flower Girl" series sung by Oka, and from the versions that I've heard on "SHOW Gakko" and YouTube, it's a hopeful ditty with the titular girl selling her flowers on the street which also seems to have its fair share of flora and by a jazz hall. There's even mention of American soldiers and the feeling is that of a general hustle and bustle in the big city now that the war is over. I even caught a whiff of a slow boogie in the melody as well.

Yoshio Tabata -- Kaeri Bune (かえり船)

Out of all the songs in Yoshio Tabata's (田端義夫) discography, I'm confident in saying that "Kaeri Bune" is his most popular and well known single, and it sold about 1.8 million copies. It's the Batayan song that's often sung on the music shows at this day and age by a myriad of enka singers, and even Tabata himself performed "Kaeri Bune" on his second (out of two) appearance on the Kohaku in 1989. Ironically, though, I can't say I'm a big fan of it (yet?) especially when compared to his other tunes I've covered on the blog.

What made me finally decide to put up an article for "Kaeri Bune" was hearing it on a "Shin Nippon no Uta" episode a couple of weeks back. I thought it was high time the song deserved a write-up. This time it was the enka brothers, Ichiro Toba and Yutaka Yamakawa (鳥羽一郎 . 山川豊), who tackled this hit during the Special Stage show. The first half of the segment was dedicated to their late mother who loved Haruo Minami (三波春夫), Koichi Aoki (青木光一), and Tabata - Mrs. Kimura sure had good taste in music. According to Toba, Batayan was Mrs. Kimura's no.1 favourite so naturally the haunting intro of "Kaeri Bune" began to play. At that point in time, I was reminded of a black and white clip that is usually associated with the song. It had dozens of people at the harbor enthusiastically receiving their loved ones who are on board the docking ship. This then kick-started the brain's thinking mode.

With "Kaeri Bune" being released in post-war Japan (1946), I found out from the description in the video at the very top that the lyrics are about soldiers returning (by ship) to Japan after the war. I'm pretty sure that it can be applied to folks who are coming home from working/studying abroad as well. That being said, one would think that the melody would be a jaunty one to celebrate the joyous reunions, but it's not. Instead it's solemn and leans to the melancholic enka side, plus the resonant twang of Batayan's electric guitar makes it all the more unsettling. Perhaps "Kaeri Bune" is trying to highlight the sadness and bitterness beneath the happiness felt by those on the boat; possibly caused by being away from home for a long time.

Minoru Shimizu (清水みのる) had written the lyrics and Haruo Kurawaka (倉若晴生) had composed the music. Together with Batayan, the three had spawned a number of other hits like "Wakare Bune" (別れ船) - probably the opposite of "Kaeri Bune" - and "Shima no Funauta" (島の舟唄) - his debut single.

billboard-japan.com/goods/detail/398845

With the extra number of times I have listened to "Kaeri Bune" while writing this article alone, I feel it slowly latching on to me... I think. Wonder if it'll have that "Wakare no Ippon Sugi" (別れの一本杉) effect. (Noelle from 30/12/16) Yup, it's finally latched on - it was only a matter of time.

(Sorry but the video has been taken down.)

Oh my goodness, it's Batayan without his trusty guitar! He looks so incomplete without the instrument - it's as if he lost an arm or something. 

Noboru Kirishima -- Tabiyakusha no Uta (旅役者の唄)

I'm not sure why, but over the past few days I had the urge do an article on a ryukoka that I wasn't that familiar with and one that was not by a ryukoka artiste I favour, like Yoshio Tabata (田端義夫). Consulting the J-Wiki pages of composers of the pre/post-war era Yoshiji Nagatsu (長津義司) and Masao Koga (古賀政男) for ideas, nothing tickled my fancy then and there when skimming through their works, and so I decided to re-watch a medley of ancient kayo which you can see up there to choose the song that either the bespectacled Noboru Kirishima (霧島昇) or the beatific Minoru Obata (小畑実) had sung. As you can see from the title, I went with the latter whose name I never knew how to pronounce until recently, with the reason being - I had not covered anything by him before.

"Tabiyakusha no Uta", which was what the frowning, sad-faced Kirishima sang at that time, isn't as jovial as Obata's "Kantaro Tsukiyo Uta" (勘太郎月夜唄), and I actually did not like this post-war song (released in 1946) the moment I heard it. But with the ryukoka medley on constant replay (I think I've mentioned this in one article before), Kirishima's forlorn delivery and the fast-paced haunting melody of "Tabiyakusha no Uta" slowly grew on me, eventually becoming a tune that would get stuck in my head from time to time... Yup, it is doing just that right as I'm writing this and won't go away for another day or so.

Anyway, remember me saying that nothing on Nagatsu or Koga's J-Wiki articles caught my attention? Well, I only found out when selecting "Tabiyakusha no Uta" that Koga was the one who had composed it. Another look at the great composer's repertoire after that revealed that Kirishima was one of his frequent collaborators, and "Tabiyakusha..." was one of the multiple works produced from this collaboration. I guess I did not see that sooner due to never looking at the song's title whenever it came up and its melody not having the high-pitched notes from the mandolin (still not sure) that I can easily associate with Koga.

In the title as well as Yaso Saijo's (西條八十) lyrics, the words "Tabiyakusha" are mentioned. I did some research on it - turns out that "Tabiyakusha" are basically actors from this genre of Japanese theater called taishu engeki, or theater for the masses. The actors move from theater to theater to act, hence the "Tabi". So I think "Tabiyakusha no Uta" had Kirishima singing about the journeys of the roving thespians.

He looks so worried...

columbia.jp

Michiko Namiki & Noboru Kirishima -- Ringo no Uta （リンゴの唄）

About a few days ago, I had written about Ringo Shiina's（椎名林檎）Latin swan song of sorts (or so I thought) "Ringo no Uta"（りんごのうた...Ringo's Song）. Well, today will be about the original "Ringo no Uta" (Song of the Apple), a jaunty song that I've heard off and on since I was a baby and has been considered to be the first postwar kayo kyoku hit, according to the Wikipedia entry. Wiki explains the history about the song so without having to repeat it, you can take a look at the article here.

Written by Hachiro Sato（サトウハチロー）and composed by Tadashi Manjome（万城目正）for release in January 1946, less than 6 months after the end of World War II, it was sung initially as a duet with actress Michiko Namiki （並木路子）and singer Noboru Kirishima（霧島昇）who also later sung another kayo classic, "Mune no Furiko"（胸の振り子）. Although the official release of it as a 78 rpm single was in that January, its reputation had already grown a few months earlier through its use in the movie "Soyokaze"（そよかぜ...Soft Breeze）which also starred Namiki. In fact, its popularity translated into a then-unheard-of sales record of over 100,000 copies sold.

I'm not sure whether my father's collection includes "Ringo no Uta" although I know that there are several 78s in there, but I have been hearing the song on tape and through some of those old retrospectives on TV over the decades which included the recent airing of the 46th annual "Omoide no Melody"（思い出のメロディー...Melodies of Your Memories）on NHK. For a people who really love their nostalgia, "Ringo no Uta" has been one of the crowd-pleasers among the older set and perhaps even some of the younger generations.