I've been a fan of Japanese popular music for 40 years, and have managed to collect a lot of material during that time. So I decided I wanted to talk about Showa Era music with like-minded fans. My particular era is the 70s and 80s (thus the "kayo kyoku"). The plus part includes a number of songs and artists from the last 30 years and also the early kayo. So, let's talk about New Music, aidoru, City Pop and enka.
Credits
I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.
First off, my compliments to YouTuber Glasbo for his video of the Art Gallery of Ontario. I have to admit that I haven't visited one of Toronto's big highlights in nearly fifty years. My Grade 6 class visited the AGO in 1976 on a field trip, and I remember that the tour included a class activity which involved us splitting into pairs with one partner going into a huge black fabric sack and molding each other into some sort of Henry Moore-esque sculpture. I don't think that would wash nowadays.
Anyways, that preamble ramble was for the song of this article, "Bijutsukan" (Art Gallery) by the folk duo Cherish（チェリッシュ）. A track from their 1973 album "Cherish no Chiisana Koi no Monogatari"（チェリッシュの小さな恋の物語...Cherish's Little Love Story）, it's a wistful song beautifully sung by the pair as they describe a woman making her way to the titular art gallery to assuage some of those melancholy feelings after a romantic breakup. Well, at least it's cheaper than running away on a train to the Tsugaru Strait.
Written by Daizo Saito（さいとう大三）and composed by Shunichi Makaino（馬飼野俊一）, it's a lovely song for the broken hearts with the boss drumming of 70s kayo, shimmering strings and an electric guitar. I also love the cover for the Cherish album with Yoshitaka and Etsuko Matsuzaki（松崎好孝・松崎悦子） sitting in what looks like one corner of an old art gallery. Nice 70s threads, too.
I'm not sure whether Alcoholics Anonymous would appreciate the sentiments expressed in this particular song, but I heard this one, "Sake Akari" (The Light of the Drink) by enka singer Hiroshi Miyama（三山ひろし）last night on NHK's"Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本の歌）as his 20th single from January 2025.
Usually when it comes to Miyama's enka tunes, I've gotten his exhortations on the grand nature of the countryside which is a common enka trope. However, this time around, the native of Kochi Prefecture is singing about the healing qualities of a good drink and companionship at the local nomiya. Written by Daizo Saito（さいとう大三）and composed by Tetsuya Gen（弦哲也）, the gentle beckoning melody seems to be a reflection (literal and figurative) of the welcoming and glistening light of the just-as-gentle sloshing of the alcohol, most likely sake, made from the purest water. Perhaps even the mesmerizing effects of the sake moving about is enough to bring some ASMR recovery. "Sake Akari" reached No. 14 on Oricon.
I also heard his "Hokkai Minato Bushi"（北海港節）last night which was the last article I did on Miyama back in 2023.
Enka singer Toshimi Tagawa（田川寿美）has been a regular presence on the kayo kyoku-based programs such as "Uta Con"（うたコン）and "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新・BS日本のうた）, and yet I'm a little embarrassed to state that she's only appeared on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" in just a couple of songs, neither of which has her on the byline. Well, it's time for me to eradicate that glaring omission.
Interestingly enough, I saw her sing her latest single "Kanashii Meguriai" (Sad Encounter) from May 2024 on the latter NHK show, and I wouldn't say that it was purely an enka tune. I would place it in that hybridized genre that I've called New Adult Music since there's quite a bit of soul in there to the extent that I had also considered City Pop in its roots. The urbane melody by Kohei Miyuki（幸耕平）under the arrangement of Masayuki Sakamoto（坂本昌之）even had me thinking that it could almost be something that the God of Love Songs, Masayuki Suzuki（鈴木雅之）, would possibly tackle. Daizo Saito（さいとう大三）handled the lyrics.
"Kanashii Meguriai" is the 38th of her singles in a career that began in 1992 for the Wakayama Prefecture-born singer. Tagawa has also put out eight studio albums along with other releases.
It was about nine years ago that I put up folk duo Cherish's（チェリッシュ）famous and amiable "Tento Mushi no Samba"（てんとう虫のサンバ）which was their July 1973 7th single. My, how time flies.
Well, the B-side of the single is "Ochiba no Mori no Bansankai" (The Dinner in the Woods of the Fallen Leaves) which was taken care of by the same duo behind the A-side: lyricist Daizo Saito（さいとう大三）and composer/arranger Shunichi Makaino（馬飼野俊一）. Melodically speaking, it sounds just a bit more contemporary kayo than the folksier "Tento Mushi no Samba", but personal as well as professional partners Yoshitaka Matsuzaki（松崎好孝）and Etsuko Matsui（松井悦子）still bring their happy-go-lucky charm to their vocals.
All in all, "Ochiba no Mori no Bansankai" is a cheery and breezy tune that could any accompany any picnic on a Sunday. In fact, there's something about that title that has me thinking of that tea party in "Alice in Wonderland".
It doesn't really sound like a samba, but "Tento Mushi no Samba"(The Ladybug Samba) is just one of those old-fashioned folk songs from Japan that just makes me wanna grab a butterfly net and head out into the fields (mind you, if I skipped around and did that at my age, that net should probably be around MY head). It's one of those tunes that has come in and out of my memories over the decades via the various retrospectives and commercials.
Back in 1968, Yoshitaka Matsuzaki（松崎好孝） started his band, Cherish, with three others in his hometown of Nagoya. The name of the group came from the 1966 song of the same name by the US band The Association that used to pop up on my AM radio back in the 70s and on Muzak speakers everywhere. In 1970, Etsuko Matsui（松井悦子）joined to make a 5-strong group with an official debut a year later with the song "Nanoni Anata wa Kyoto e Yuku no"（なのにあなたは京都へ行くの...But You're Heading To Kyoto）. However in 1972, Cherish became a simple duo with Matsuzaki and Matsui.
Their biggest hit was "Tento Mushi no Samba", a cheerful and skippy song about that wedding day in the forest. It became a million-seller peaking at No. 5 on Oricon after its release in July 1973 as Cherish's 7th single and would eventually become the 24th-ranked song of the year. Written by Daizo Saito（さいとう大三） and composed by Shunichi Makaino (馬飼野俊一...the younger brother of composer Koji Makaino), it has also become a popular song to be played at weddings, giving it a certain immortality. And perhaps the song sprinkled some further good luck to the duo....Matsuzaki and Matsui would get married in 1977.
When I think about the representative aidoru of the 1970s, names like Momoe Yamaguchi（山口百恵）, Pink Lady and Mari Amachi（天地真理） pop up for the women. For the men, it's Hiromi Go（郷ひろみ）, Goro Noguchi（野口五郎） and Hideki Saijo....not surprisingly, the geinokai branded the trio as Shin-Gosanke(新御三家...The New Big Three).
Of the three, Hideki Saijo（西城秀樹） is the one that I've seen the most on TV in his heyday. The hair, the bell-bottom pants, the theatricality....Saijo definitely made an entrance and gave his fans their money's worth. He had already been getting his hits before his 10th single, "Kizudarake no Lola"(Scarred Lola) was released in August 1974. I was never sure how to get the name right....was it Lola, Rola or Laura? In any case, I'm going with what Wikipedia is saying (yeah, I know it's not the most definitive source, but...)
As I said, Saijo was already having his success when this song came out, but it seems as if "Lola" was the one that really sent his career into the atmosphere. It didn't hit No. 1 like a few of his previous songs (it peaked at No. 2), but it earned him a Japan Record Award and a Japan Kayo Award. He also became the very first non-enka pop singer to earn 2 consecutive Japan Record Awards for Best Vocal, the first song being "Chigireta Ai"（ちぎれた愛...Tattered Love）. And it certainly sounded as if Saijo really put his all into the singing of this ballad. With a great deal of anguish, he pleads to protect this Lola from further harm. At certain points, I wonder if his vocal coach had been channeling the bravura performance of the opera "Il Pagliacci" into him....his wails of "LOLA!"are as much my memory of him as his arm gestures for his version of "YMCA".
Another factor for me thinking that "Kizudarake no Lola" was the breakthrough song for Saijo was that the song was his ticket into his very first Kohaku Utagassen appearance on New Year's Eve 1974. The amazingly clear video above shows the aidoru as the top batter of the show (unfortunately that video has been taken down); he certainly didn't skimp on the performance. The only thing missing at the end of that debut was the throwing of rose petals onto the stage. His appearance that year would herald a straight decade of appearances on the annual NHK special. In total, Saijo has appeared 18 times.
The song became the 34th-ranked song of the year. It was written by Daizo Saito（さいとう大三） and composed by Koji Makaino（馬飼野康二）. Makaino is a true veteran composer in that he has woven melodies for a huge range of singers like Saijo, Hiromi Iwasaki（岩崎宏美）, and the late Yukiko Okada（岡田有希子）. In fact, he composed current Johnny's Entertainment darlings, Arashi's（嵐）debut single, "A-RA-SHI" in 1999. The J-Wiki list of the singers he's worked for unravels like a scroll.
"Lola" is also on his 5th album which bears the same title as this single. One last interesting piece of trivia for this song: someone got the bright idea to have the song introduced internationally, and so in January 1975, Saijo actually recorded this in French. The song was then released about a month later in France, Belgium, Switzerland and even Canada. In my country, it apparently even went as high as No. 2（shades of "Sukiyaki")! There was also a version of the song, titled "Rola", sung by a French singer released a few months later.
