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.
Well, this is for the billions of people outside of North America who may not be aware of it, but tomorrow, there will be a total eclipse sweeping up through the continent with the Toronto area getting their look (not directly hopefully) at around 3:30 pm. Actually, though, I should say that Toronto will be receiving a partial eclipse (if the clouds don't invade and ruin things) and it's actually Niagara Falls across Lake Ontario which will be getting the 100% effect.
As a result, the Honeymoon Capital of the World has been the Total Eclipse Capital of the World for the past several weeks as folks have been inundating pretty much every hotel in the area with reservations. Supposedly, as many as a million people will crowd around the falls tomorrow necessitating a preemptive emergency declaration by the mayor to shore up resources to handle the eclipse-curious masses.
To be honest, I'm not all that enthused about the event and despite assurances from our provincial government that measures are in place to hold the electrical grid and Internet service together during the big eclipse, I will probably be offline during the relevant time. It ought to be interesting to see things darken dramatically though.
Of course, you ROY watchers have probably guessed correctly that for such an event, I just had to provide "Total Eclipse of the Heart" by Bonnie Tyler as the special article. I was thinking of doing this on Eclipse Day Monday but just to be on the safe side, I'm gonna do it today.
Tyler's magnum opus was first unleashed on the world in February 1983 in the UK (June 1983 in the US) and I remember "Total Eclipse of the Heart" thanks to that weird video that probably had psychology majors analyzing it for years. It and the song were on radio and TV for weeks and months on end when I was a high school kid. It got to the point where I was getting tired of hearing "Bright Eyes" and seeing the Children of the Corn standing at that academy. Still, hearing it again after so many years brought some good feelings and I think it has gone down as one of the biggest power ballads of the 1980s, especially thanks to Tyler's growly voice.
Considering its overwhelming popularity back then, I'm not surprised that "Total Eclipse of the Heart" managed to hit No. 1 in a number of countries including Canada and the United States. Most likely, there will be folks playing the song on their smartphones and other devices while the eclipse happens. I've already seen multiple comments under the various YouTube videos for the song regarding April 8th 2024.
Now, what was at the top of the Oricon list when "Total Eclipse of the Heart" was getting its time in the sun? The Top 3 are:
I've been to individual onsen（温泉）but alas, I never had the opportunity to really experience a full-blown onsen town or yuu-no-machi（湯の町）. My anime buddy and a couple of his friends were fortunate enough in the pre-pandemic times to make it out to Ginzan Onsen（銀山温泉）in Yamagata Prefecture to take in the wonderful townscape where tourists in their yukata could do their own version of barhopping by trying out the various types of hot springs. Since my buddy is also a photography hobbyist, he had the grandest time taking shots of the area which is especially spectacular at night. I gather that there is a certain mystique and romance with the combination of light and dark at Ginzan with bright white wisps or billowing clouds of steam escaping.
By the way, the above footage of Ginzan Onsen came under the aegis of Kuga's Travel, one YouTube channel that I have been subscribed to for quite a while now.
Yesterday, I was watching NHK's "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新・BS日本のうた...New Broadcast Satellite Songs of Japan）, the longer and slightly grander version of "Uta Kon"（うたコン）which focuses almost solely on kayo kyoku genres such as enka and Mood Kayo, and one of the special segments for that episode was a tribute to the late composer Masao Koga（古賀政男）. Koga will always be known as one of the master architects for kayo kyoku, and his brand of music, affectionately called Koga Melodies（古賀メロディー）, is notable for the sad Latin guitar imbued into his songs. Our resident kayo kyoku expert, Noelle Tham, gave a tasting on Koga's music several years ago via "The Works of Masao Koga" on KKP, so have a read of that if you like.
One of the songs that was featured on Noelle's article was actor/director Toshiro Omi's（近江俊郎）"Yuu-no-Machi Elegy", a ryukoka（流行歌...literally, popular song） from 1948 which centered around the realization of love lost in an onsen town. Toshio Nomura（野村俊夫）applied the lyrics to Koga's melancholy melody and the result was a huge hit for Omi, selling around 400,000 records, although the J-Wiki article for "Yuu-no-Machi Elegy" (Onsen Town Elegy) also stated that it took 23 missed takes to get to a satisfying one since Omi couldn't quite hit the low notes right. As well, the song had initially been titled "Yuu-no-Machi Blues" but because the finished product by Koga didn't have that blues feeling, the switch in titles was made.
I discovered that the guest on "Shin Nihon no Uta" was veteran enka singer Eisaku Ohkawa（大川栄策）who had been a student of Koga's, and I think that he was the ideal singer to cover "Yuu-no-Machi Elegy". It's always advantageous for any singer to have a certain unique and recognizable quality in their voice. There is soul in Aya Shimazu's（島津亜矢）vocals and Saburo Kitajima（北島三郎）has always had that working-man oaken quality in his voice. With Ohkawa, his high, nasal and somewhat mournful qualities probably struck the late Koga as things that could apply very well to his music collectively. So it wasn't any surprise that Ohkawa's version of "Yuu-no-Machi Elegy" was released as his 10th single in July 1972.
Earlier today, I did my weekly ROY article featuring Randy Newman's"I Love L.A." and one kayo that hit No. 3 on Oricon in the same month that Newman's album "Trouble in Paradise" was released was enka singer Eisaku Ohkawa's（大川栄策）big hit "Sazanka no Yado"（さざんかの宿）. In fact, I'd say that "Sazanka no Yado" is the song that Ohkawa is probably known for the most.
It has been a very long time since I put up an article featuring one of Ohkawa's songs (maybe 5 years) so after doing the ROY article, I figured that Ohkawa was due for some more attention. And so I opted to go with one of his very early singles, "Yanagawa no Hito" (Man of Yanagawa). This was his 3rd single from April 1970, and it was written by Miyuki Ishimoto（石本美由起）and composed by the late Masao Koga（古賀政男）, Ohkawa's mentor.
What caught my ears was Koga's enka melody which has an arrangement by Mitsuru Kotani（小谷充）that seems as if it was given a slight contemporary lift from what I've heard of the instrumentation and subtle key shifts. Ishimoto's lyrics first struck me as a story surrounding what I think is one of the quintessential traditional scenes in Japan, whether it be through karaoke videos or a historical drama: the slow cruise down a river lined by willow trees, and indeed, yanagawa translates into English as willow river.
However, after going through the lyrics, I've realized that "Yanagawa no Hito" is actually a go-tochi（ご当地）enka or traditional song about a specific region in Japan. In this particular case, Ohkawa is singing about the city of Yanagawa in southern Fukuoka Prefecture which is known for its canals. The key word in the lyrics which corrected my path about what the song was all about was Gonshan（ゴンシャン）, written in katakana. Putting it through the Yahoo Japan search engine pulled up multiple hits about a certain coffee shop known as Gonshan in Yanagawa. It's all quite poignant since the protagonist in "Yanagawa no Hito" is planning on leaving the city for a bigger place...perhaps Tokyo. The video below incidentally is of Yanagawa and it was created by Kevin Caption.
As I mentioned in the article for "Sazanka no Yado", Ohkawa had to go through many years without a hit before that big song from 1982 finally reached him. However, just judging from "Yanagawa no Hito" alone, I think perhaps a reappraisal of those perhaps forgotten tunes of his throughout the 1970s might be considered.
Welcome to another Reminiscings of Youth with your cordial host, J-Canuck. On today's article, we take a look at what has been determined to be the 3rd-largest economic area on the planet after Tokyo and New York City, according to J Utah, the fellow above with all those wonderful driving videos on YouTube.
I've only been to Los Angeles once and that was back in the summer of 1989. On top of that, it was purely by happenstance that we ended up in the City of Angels since on my way to Tokyo to start my career on the JET Programme, the United flight from Chicago had some technical issues (something about an engine falling off) which meant that we Toronto recruits into the programme had to stay over in LA for a night. Well, as it turned out, it wasn't too difficult making lemonade from lemons because apparently several of us had never been to the city before so we got a nice little tour through Hollywood, Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills and Venice Beach. Plus, what we heard when we eventually did get to the Keio Plaza Hotel was that the welcome ceremony for everyone on the first day (that we "unlucky" Canadian JETS had missed) had been about as exciting as watching paint dry.
However, that little spark of interest in Los Angeles had been lit several years before, thanks to a video that I'd caught on television. Randy Newman is probably most well-known now for all that music that he provided to the "Toy Story" franchise, but my first remembrance of him was through a song in the late 1970s called "Short People". It wouldn't be for many years but I eventually heard and realized that Newman had a pretty sardonic/sarcastic streak when it came to his lyrics.
Anyways that video I saw was for Newman's 1983 song"I Love L.A.". As a teen who was not particularly all that aware or sharp when it came to song lyrics, I really did think that this catchy pop/rock number was a love letter to this huge metropolis in California instead of this Gibbs slap upside L.A.'s head criticizing citizens' self-absorbed nature and ignorance of the problems hitting the outside world. Dang, as nasty as Newman's words stung, Newman's music (and the chant of "WE LOVE IT!") was as inviting and fun as that cool convertible he's driving in the video. And he had good chunks of the bands TOTO and Fleetwood Mac helping out in the recording booth, too!
But it wasn't just me who had fallen for the melodic charms of "I Love L.A.". Even the residents of Los Angeles were more than happy to welcome the song as their new anthem, and from what I've seen of the comments on YouTube, the fans of the local sports teams there have also been unhesitating in their love of the song. I remember that it was used in connection with something for the 1984 Olympics which just happened to be held in Los Angeles. Watching the music video and then all of the footage from the city during the Olympics, there was something that did make me wonder about visiting the place someday. Well, fortune favoured the foolish when it came to me several years later.
"I Love L.A." was a track on Newman's January 1983 album"Trouble in Paradise", and so how was the Oricon chart for that particular month faring? Here are the Top 3 songs.
I've got another ROY article for you tonight. In the 1980s during my university years as my friends and I hit the discos in downtown Toronto, we gradually figured out what the get-them-out-on-the-dance-floor songs were on the DJ's playlist. For example, there was "Strangelove" by Depeche Mode, "Bizarre Love Triangle" by New Order and especially among a few of us, there was "Boom Boom" by Paul Lekakis. It was almost comical...we would be nattering away in one of the dark corners of the club or drinking up when one of those songs popped up and we just hauled ass in mid-sip or mid-sentence. Couldn't miss one note of "Bizarre Love Triangle".
This particular number, though, was released about 18 months before I set my foot into my alma mater of University of Toronto for the first time, but I could imagine that the high school dances must have had it on the playlist but not as the usual uptempo free-for-all. Indeed, "True" by the English New Wave band Spandau Ballet was probably one of those ballads that would have the steady couples hit the floor for that slow dance, but I wouldn't know that for sure since being a full-fledged nerd, I barely ever went to the after-school dances.
Spandau Ballet's"True" was a long-lived resident on the CHUM Music Video Top 30 list on TV. For all intents and purposes, that was the first time for me to find out about the golden-voiced Tony Hadley and company, so my image for them will always be the "True" music video with all those soothing colours and sounds with the band all decked out in clothes that was a mix of 1980s sleek and 1940s Warner Bros. cinema style. There was probably a whole lot of swooning for the guys. In fact, my image of the band wearing those sophisticated threads is so seared in my memories that it's still a little hard for me to imagine that these guys were the standard-bearers of the New Romantic era earlier in the decade with the baggy clothing and the cosmetics.
Officially on Wikipedia, "True" is categorized as blue-eyed soul and New Wave. I can certainly agree with the first category...I do hear and feel the soul but I think that it also probably ended up getting played on a lot of AOR stations. Most likely as well, those opening notes are probably some of the most recognizable for fans of 1980s pop music, and the entire song seems to flow with nostalgic relaxation for me nowadays. This much is true (ha, ha), it hit No. 1 on Canada's RPM top singles and America's Billboard Adult Contemporary charts.
The single "True" was released in April 1983 but so was "Never Gonna Let You Go" by Sergio Mendes, and I've already put up a ROY article about that romantic hit with the top 3 Oricon songs in that month. However, I am undaunted so I will put up the No. 4, 5 and 7 hits instead.
Rather interesting duo for this particular Reminiscings of Youth article. How did this all come about?
Well, actually, I had been thinking about focusing on just the Spanish-language "No Tengo Dinero" (I Don't Have Money), a song by Italo Disco duo Righeira that came out in 1983. When I first saw the music video for this on one of the many video shows that were showing on the local channels here in Toronto, I was absolutely mesmerized by this bizarre mix of graphics and old historical footage as Stefano Rota and Stefano Righi kept yelling out the title. At the time, I couldn't recognize the language but I'd assumed that it was Brazilian Portuguese. The weird symbolism that I got from the video made me think that this would have made for a wonderful psychoanalytical tool!
However, the thing is that I couldn't pinpoint the exact month that "No Tengo Dinero" was released (no tengo ni idea, I guess), so I decided to bring in the Top 3 Oricon singles in Japan for that entire year this time around. But for that, I figured that I had to track down what the No. 1 song on Billboard was for 1983. Therefore, I went for both songs.
At first, I'd thought that it would be Michael Jackson's"Billie Jean", but that actually came in at No. 2."Billie Jean" was eclipsed by The Police's"Every Breath You Take". I had my introduction to Sting, Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland during that trip to Japan in 1981. One of my classmates had a compilation audio tape of a whole bunch of singers including Split Enz and Queen. The Police was on the tape as well with "Roxanne".
Back to "Every Breath You Take", I got to know the music video far more than I did the audio version of the song. Indeed it was a striking video with the black & white footage of The Police in that darkened ballroom while this deceptively comforting song of Sting vowing to keep an eye on a lover like an omnipresent guardian. The video got heavy rotation on the music video shows and it probably populated the top of the charts for weeks on end.
However, a lot of time later, I found out through interviews that Sting was rather bemused about how "Every Breath You Take" was being received as this deeply romantic ballad when in fact, it was meant as a lyrical version of a twisted suspense movie. The so-called guardian was actually an obsessive ex who wouldn't take NO for an answer. Wowzers! I guess maybe it got left off the playlist during prom season then. It might also explain why Sting looks so intense in the video.
Anyways, what were the biggest hits in Japan for 1983? Well, two of them were enka tunes.
Quite some time ago (it was meant to be "Not too long ago", but I got a horrendous writer's block for this article at that point in time), commenter Hanibo mentioned that Akira Matsudaira (松平晃) was one of the few popular ryukoka stars that hadn't yet been profiled on KKP, so I thought that now would be a good time to give him a label of his own, and what better way to start it than with the song that brought him into fame, "Circus no Uta" (Circus Song) from 1933.
For some reason, I was never keen on circuses. I mean, they have animals I like perform tricks and performers doing death-defying stunts, but I could never get into it. I wonder if it was a subconscious aversion to it after I got traumatized by "Dumbo" when I was young (especially since I love elephants)... and the dang clowns. This aversion was probably also what kept me away from "Circus no Uta", easily one of the evergreen ryukoka to come out of the 30's and one of the great Masao Koga's (古賀政男) pride and joy.
Well, but after the aforementioned prompt and after watching an interview of Koga, I finally set my aversion aside and gave this Matsudaira hit a good listen. I got to say, it's very... circus-y... in the sense that it's jaunty and what I believe is the clarinet fluttering in from time to time adds a sort of whimsical edge to a score that is heavy on the accordion. This accompanies the equally renowned Yaso Saijo's (西條八十) words about a carny who's bored with his roving lifestyle and yearns to go home to his special one.
With two of the old kayo's big wigs having worked on "Circus no Uta", it was no wonder why it did as well as it did. But prior to its success there were some complications: for one, Koga also had a severe writer's (creator's?) block when it came to having to complement Saijo's forlorn piece. Two, the one whom this tune was originally written for, Ichiro Fujiyama (藤山一郎), moved to Victor from Colombia Records, so they had to find a replacement in then newcomer Matsudaira. In spite of all that, Matsudaira managed to make it work and we have the classic we know today that has been covered countless times by enka singers in the following decades.
There were so many renditions to pick from, so I decided to put the one by Koga's last student, Eisaku Ohkawa (大川栄策). In this one, you can enjoy a slightly more modern take on the music while still retaining the quintessential Koga-sound.
Before we end off this article, here an introduction to Matsudaira: Born Tsuneharu Fukuda (福田恒治) on 26th June 1911 in Saga prefecture, he had quite a rough road on his way to becoming a singer. First he faced objections from his father, then he had some financial difficulties that put a strain on his musical education when he did go up to Tokyo. However, Matsudaira did manage to get into the music scene through Nitto Records via a friend's recommendation, and debuted as Shizuo (?) Ohkawa (大川静夫) in 1932, all while still in school. All the way up to the next year, (from what I understand) he jumped from record company to record company in an effort to produce a hit, until he landed in Colombia, where he encountered "Circus no Uta" and the rest was history. In the way of his name, he underwent about half a dozen name changes, one per record company, prior to his breakthrough until he finally settled with "Akira Matsudaira" in 1934. In this way, he kind of reminds me of Toshiro Omi (近江俊郎).
(Noelle from 11/3/24: Allow me to correct myself on some things. For one, that friend was his senior at Tokyo Music School and the Ichiro Fujiyama. Also, his jumping from record company to record company was when he was working part-time as an under-the-radar singer to pay off school fees. He actually recorded "Circus no Uta" while still doing covert part-time. Perhaps because the song blew up in popularity, he got into trouble with school, so he quit and chose the path of pop music. In doing so, Fukuda officially signed on to Columbia in 1934 under "Akira Matsudaira", the stage name he used when he was a covert part-timer at Columbia.)
No "Uta Con"（うたコン）last night so I kinda need my dollop of enka right now. There's been quite a lot of articles going up on the relatively modern music recently so I want to swing the pendulum to the old days.
So, heck, let's go back to the 1940s and revisit the duo of Noboru Kirishima（霧島昇）& Misao Matsubara（松原操）, aka Miss Columbia（ミス・コロムビア）. Husband and wife got together again after their 1939 "Ippai no Coffee kara"（一杯のコーヒーから）to sing "Mennai Chidori" (Blind Plover) in 1940.
Masao Koga（古賀政男）composed the very cheerful song about what I believe is a newlywed bride learning the hard ropes of being a wife with Hachiro Sato（サトウハチロー）providing the lyrics. In fact, I think the song is so cheerful that I can envision a Japanese Snow White happily trilling these words away while Prince Charming is out slaying dragons or something on that order.
"Mennai Chidori" was created for the 1940 Toei movie "Niizuma Kagami"（新妻鏡...Bride's Mirror）starring Isuzu Yamada（山田五十鈴）. Although there was the official theme song with the same title, "Mennai Chidori" was used within the movie itself.
In 1965, Chiyoko Shimakura（島倉千代子）released her own version of "Mennai Chidori". Like the original version by Kirishima & Matsubara, Shimakura's cover was a B-side to her take on "Niizuma Kagami" on the A-side.
Then a few years later in 1969, Eisaku Ohkawa（大川栄策）gave his own rendition which sounds a bit more contemporary for the times. The bass beat provides a bit more of a slow gallop to the melody. However, although composer Koga tried to make this an A-side for Ohkawa so that the young singer could gain some success, the record company ultimately decided that it probably wouldn't sell, so the powers-that-be placed his "Mennai Chidori" as the B-side for someone else's A-side! There was a happy ending of sorts for Ohkawa as everyone soon discovered that his rendition was starting to gain fans, and it was then marketed as a hit B-side.
Frankly speaking, it's hard to believe hearing Ohkawa's silken and crystal voice that the record company would just dust him off like that in the first place, but then again, I don't know how Ohkawa sounded back in his early days.
Continuing on my Masao Koga (古賀政男) tribute, Part 2 here will be focusing more on his works after WWII, specifically those from the 1950's and 1960's. If you haven't read Part 1 yet, you can do so in the link here.
After some research, I realised that while the great songwriter had made a name for himself by the 50's and 60's, he had fewer hits as compared to the previous couple of decades, which I guess was inevitable with the changes in musical preferences. But still, some of the successes he had during this period of time were probably his greatest.
Before we start, I would also like to mention that Koga, like many other respected songwriters, had many students, a good number of whom are popular enka-yo artistes like the flamboyant Sachiko Kobayashi (小林幸子)andKenichi Mikawa (美川憲一), the leader of the Mood Kayo group Tokyo Romantica Masayoshi Tsuruoka (鶴岡雅義), and Eisaku Ohkawa (大川栄策) who was his last apprentice. Antonio Koga (アントニオ古賀) and Takeharu Yamamoto (山本丈晴) were also under Koga's wing but were more well-known for being a guitarist and composer respectively.
Dang, this song is so cool.
Anyway, let's begin with the songs by the Queen of Kayo herself, Hibari Misora (美空ひばり). From what I've been reading, Koga began providing the rising star that was Misora with melodies in 1950 like "Musume Sendo-san" (娘船頭さん), but it was only in the mid-60's when their collaborations were very, very warmly received. One was the extremely melancholic piece "Kanashii Sake" (悲しい酒) from 1966 which I liken to Koga's own "Kage Shitai te" (影を慕いて). The other was "Yawara" (柔) from two years before and it definitely sits better with me - I deem it as the manliest song sung by a woman at the time. The score of "Yawara" is powerful and grand, which brings to mind a strong character that'll emerge victorious, and that was probably what Koga had in mind when he created it, especially since it was used to represent Judo in the '64 Tokyo Olympics. This became Madame Misora's biggest hit in her repertoire and, if I'm not wrong, was also Koga's most successful composition - I recall seeing a plaque of "Yawara" regarding this feat displayed in the Koga Masao Museum of Music (古賀政男音楽博物館).
Since we're on the topic of the Tokyo Olympics, I will now touch on the composer's other evergreen contribution to the sporting event, "Tokyo Gorin Ondo" (東京五輪音頭). Released in 1963, this festive bon odori-inspired tune was to be used as the '64 Olympics theme song, and Koga himself had actually made it with the intent of having minyo star Michiya Mihashi (三橋美智也) sing it as Michi was known for this sort of tunes. But, as we all know by now, HaruoMinami's (三波春夫) take sold the best and it essentially became the de facto version of it. I'm not too surprised by this as Minami's vocals match the joy and exuberance in the music better than Michi's, plus there was also Minami's warm and welcoming persona. "Tokyo Gorin Ondo" will even be used in the upcoming 2020 Olympics - it got a face lift with the inclusion of other genres besides enka going along to the same melody.
Following the trend of happy, feel-good stuff from the mustachioed composer, here is "Seishun Cycling" (青春サイクリング) by Kazuya Kosaka (小阪一也) from 1957, an ode to the joys of cycling and one's adolescence. It's got a joyous composition with the shrill wind instruments and light strings and crashing cymbals, which as I had mentioned in Part 1, I've come to associate with Koga's other style of songwriting. But, of course, he created many other stuff outside of those two styles, like "Yawara" and another tune you will see in a bit.
Now, we shall move on to something a little more severe. Coming from 1958, here is Hideo Murata's debut song, "Muhomatsu no Issho" (無法松の一生) with its B-side "Dokyo Senryo" (度胸千両) included. For "Muhomatsu no Issho", there's no denying that it was written by the man himself. It was based in rokyoku for Muchi's background and intense to match Matsugoro's (A.K.A. Muhomatsu) violent tendencies, but that creepy sounding mandolin and rhythmic beat are a clear sign that this is a Koga Melody through and through. Besides "Muhomatsu no Issho", Muchi also released his version of another quintessential Koga Melody, "Jinsei Gekijo" (人生劇場), in 1959.
"Rindo Toge" (りんどう峠) was the song I was referring to earlier - I wouldn't have known Koga composed it if I didn't see his name. "Rindo Toge" was one of Chiyoko Shimakura's (島倉千代子) early hits from 1955 and the first of quite a few collaborations with Koga - "Towa ni Kotaezu" (永遠に答えず), and "Nippon Yoitoko" (日本よいとこ) with Muchi, Kikue Hanamura (花村菊江), Midori Satsuki (五月みどり), and Yuriko Okada (岡田ゆり子) are some examples of that. With its premises being about a girl seeing her sister sent off to get married, the score sounds mostly traditional and folksy, as with songs of a similar topic, but I find that there is a modern pop edge to it as well - probably that was what threw me for a loop as Koga's music, the pop kind, tend to sound... old-fashioned, for want of a better word. It also gave Shimakura opportunities to let her clear and fluttering vocals shine.
To end off, I think it'd be good to include something by his last student. I'm not sure when Ohkawa became Koga's student, but in February 1969, he made his debut in the entertainment world with the jaunty "Mennai Chidori" (目ン無い千鳥), which was originally a duet sung by Noboru Kirishima and Miss Colombia (霧島昇 . ミス・コロムビア) in 1940.
After 47 years of being in the music business, creating over 5000 songs, and making his mark on Japanese music history, Koga passed away on 25th July 1978. He was posthumously awarded the People's Honour Award on 4th August in the same year. Other honours he received included were the Medal with Purple Ribbon and 3rd Class Orders of the Sacred Treasure.
Two museums were built in his honour, the first being the Koga Masao Memorial Hall (古賀政男記念館) in his hometown of Ohkawa, Fukuoka, built in 1982. And the other is the aforementioned Museum of Music in the Yoyogi-Uehara district, Tokyo, built in 1997 alongside the JASRAC building. It was built there as that very location was where his house used to be. This museum has a section dedicated to various accomplished composers and singers, and another dedicated to Koga himself - that bit's designed to incorporate parts of his old home... It was an interesting experience to see how he lived and where he worked then.
Well, although Koga's works come from the days of yore and that he'd be over a century old if he were still around, I respect him a great deal for being able to come up with stuff that are, thankfully, still being remembered today. And despite this Creator article being rather tough on the planning, I have to say I enjoyed writing it and talking about how he made those hits and how I was able to recognize his style. I hope you guys enjoy the articles and gained a better appreciation for Koga's music too.
Happy 113th Birthday, Mr Koga.
... Yeah, I made a mistake in Part 1. My math is terrible, OK?
Happy St. Patrick's Day to all of you folks since as the saying goes, on March 17th, everyone is Irish! And because I'm not a big drinker and I only observe the goings-on of St. Patrick's Day from the comfort of a TV screen, I thought maybe I could pay some tribute to the holiday via the blog. So I searched for a kayo kyoku with the word midori or green in the title.
It didn't take too much effort at all. I punched in the relevant kanji into the Yahoo Japan search engine, and the first few replies all pointed to this song "Midori no Chiheisen" (Green Horizon) which was originally sung by the late singer Shigeo Kusunoki（楠木繁夫）.
Released in October 1935, it's a pretty lively number created by Sonosuke Sato（佐藤惣之助）and Masao Koga（古賀政男）about what I think is the relating of a tearful parting. I envision the man having to leave either a lover or a family via ship heading for places unknown. Considering how jaunty Koga's melody is compared to the sad lyrics by Sato, I can place it as one of those "smiling through the tears" kayo.
Becoming Kusunoki's most successful single, "Midori no Chiheisen" was used as the theme song for a movie of the same name which was also released in October 1935. However, due to wartime damage, the movie itself went permanently missing with only the song as the one surviving memento (aside from some stills) although the story was also adapted into a TV drama in 1962.
The song has continued to survive through covers by some of the most famous enka singers such as Hibari Misora（美空ひばり）.
Naomi Chiaki (ちあきなおみ) performed her version in front of a grand orchestra.
And I would also like to include Eisaku Ohkawa（大川栄策）.
As for Kusunoki, he was born Susumu Kuroda（黒田進）in 1904 in Kochi Prefecture on Shikoku Island. In junior high school, he wanted to become a musician so against his father's opposition, he moved up to Tokyo and entered what is now Tokyo University of the Arts in 1924 and started singing professionally a few years later.
Now this is where things get interesting in that Kuroda would end up using 55 stage names for himself. Apparently, according to the J-Wiki article, it wasn't all that unusual for celebrities to use a variety of stage names but I think Kuroda most likely took the proverbial cake. For those who want to see this amazing list of aliases and perhaps get some practice in reading Japanese names, you can check out the article and look at the right side under the man's photo beside the kanji 「別名」. I think even Jason Bourne would have to bow down in awe.
Under his name of Kusunoki, the singer released about 250 records but including all of his names, that number has been said to approach 800. All of the above information came from an article about the singer in an April 1997 issue of the Kobe Shinbun.
As has been the case since I started "Kayo Kyoku Plus", whenever I hear of a death in the Japanese music world, it's always been in the morning, specifically through NHK's "Newswatch 9", and this morning was no different. Composer Toru Funamura（船村徹）passed away at the age of 84 the day before. According to J-Wiki, he may have created more than 5,000 songs in a career that lasted over 60 years.
Unfortunately, I can't really impart any deep insights off the top (although in writing this article, that may change) about his musical style but his genres were most definitely enka and the somewhat poppier kayo of a past age. Just from some of the hits that he was responsible for, though, Funamura's enka melodies ranged from the poignant to the proud with the common point being the rich Japanese-ness of it all.
Funamura was born Hiroo Fukuda（福田博郎）in Tochigi Prefecture in 1932 and studied piano at what is now the Tokyo College of Music. His university days were during the postwar period when US military forces were frequently seen on the streets, and so he participated and even led a band which toured the US bases. He also collaborated with another budding composer, Kimio Takano（高野公男）, to create music but tragically, Takano would pass away at the age of 26 in 1956.
The last time I saw Funamura on TV was on an episode of NHK's "Kayo Concert"（歌謡コンサート）early last year, I believe. And I think he also performed one song himself on stage. During the 1950s, he had his time behind the microphone, and according to his bio on J-Wiki, one of his four singles was "Shinjuku Jouwa"（新宿情話...Shinjuku Love Story）although I couldn't find out the exact year of its release. Composed by Funamura and written by Ryo Inomata（猪又良）, it was the melancholy story of a man trying to comfort a young woman in distress in the titular neighbourhood of Tokyo.
I couldn't find an original copy of Funamura actually singing "Shinjuku Jouwa" but according to YouTube, it has been covered by a number of singers including Eisaku Ohkawa（大川栄策）, one of his apprentices who would become one of the premier enka singers. That lone guitar expresses the tenderness of the situation and it would be one of those fine ballads to be sung by that traveling balladeer who used to walk the side streets of Shinjuku.
Officially, though, his debut as a composer came in 1953 when he made "Tasogare no Ano no Hito"（たそがれのあの人...That Man At Sunset）, although I couldn't find out who the original singer was.
His first bona fide hit though came a couple of years later in 1955 when he composed "Wakare no Ippon Sugi"（別れの一本杉）for Hachiro Kasuga（春日八郎）. The video above has Funamura himself singing the song about longing for home. Noelle has already fashioned an article about it right here.
I wrote about a Funamura-penned song just a couple of weeks ago called "Odorou Boku to"（踊ろうぼくと）from 1963 with all-Japanese guy Kazuo Funaki（舟木一夫）. Revisiting this one and listening to some of the other hits, I've been getting the impression that Funamura enjoyed expressing aspects of the Japanese man's heart although he also made songs for female singers. This one was a bit less enka but there was that streak of gallantry in there.
In 1961, he composed one of Hideo Murata's（村田英雄）symbolic tunes, "Osho"（王将）, a muscular enka that made the game of shogi into an epic battle.
Another one of his manly-man songs was his 1982 hit for Ichiro Toba（鳥羽一郎）, another one of his apprentices, the ode to a couple of fishermen brothers battling the elements, "Kyodai Bune"（兄弟船）. No matter if it's a single piercing trumpet or a whole orchestra, the song packs a wallop of an impression. I can smell the sea salt from here.
Then a year later, "Yagiri no Watashi"（矢切の渡し）became one of the biggest hits for 1983 for Takashi Hosokawa（細川たかし）although it had first been sung by Naomi Chiaki（ちあきなおみ）as a B-side back in 1976. For me, it's one of the most recognizable enka.
Another kayo legend that Funamura created songs for was the one and only Hibari Misora（美空ひばり）. In 1962, she released "Hibari no Sado Jouwa"（ひばりの佐渡情話...Hibari's Sado Love Story）. As far as I know, Misora may be the only singer who had kayo titles with her name on them. Although the lyrics by Sou Nishizawa（西沢爽）may have had Misora femininely lamenting a lost love, Funamura's melody still reflected a strength of character that was part and parcel of the Misora mystique...the same mystique that was rumoured to have often terrified her fellow singers at any of the Kohaku that the Queen of Kayo appeared on. And yes, she also performed this song on the NHK New Year's Eve special.
Speaking of another famous singer from the old days, Funamura created a Mood Kayo for Keiko Fuji（藤圭子）as her 40th single in February 1987, "Shinjuku Banka"（新宿挽歌...Shinjuku Elegy）. And it sounded like the composer crafted the ballad perfectly for his client: that late-night bluesy music paired with Rei Nakanishi's（なかにし礼）lyrics of shattered dreams that had exemplified Fuji's songs from the very beginning.
As I said at the top, Funamura composed over 5,000 songs since 1953. So if my descriptions here are a bit chintzy, I'm sure the articles that have already been written for some of his hits will be more illuminating and there will definitely be more Funamura-penned songs coming up in the future. I might even end up writing up on "Shinjuku Jouwa", "Shinjuku Banka" and the Misora ballad since they have yet to get their own articles as of this writing (but Noelle, if you want to give them a shot, please be my guest).
To finish, I managed to find one interesting story from the J-Wiki bio of Funamura. The original source is a Japanese webpage showing a conversation between him and fellow songwriter Eiichi Ohtaki（大瀧詠一）. In 1959, an animated movie for which Funamura was responsible for the score had won a grand prize at a London-based movie festival, and the composer somehow was able to attend an audition for bands. After seeing the whole lot, he was then asked which groups were good. Funamura answered, "That slovenly group of four was the most interesting."
What floored Ohtaki was who that group was. Funamura may have thought the four were slovenly...and interesting, but the world kinda found out later that they were actually quite fab!
April 4th 2017: On the above paragraphs concerning Funamura's alleged encounter with The Beatles, I received word from a commenter below that he couldn't find any information about this online so I decided to do a bit of research myself. His comments and my response are below. As such, I am providing this disclaimer but not erasing the paragraphs since Funamura did indeed give those comments in that webpage interview. However, if there is anyone out there who can offer further clarity to this matter, I would appreciate it.
As I've said before, 2014 had offered many good Enka songs. And I consider Eisaku Ohkawa's (大川栄策) "Abare Funa Uta" one of them. I'd heard of the guy via his breakthrough single "Sazanka no Yado" (さざんかの宿), which was rather mellow and elegant sounding despite the fact that the man himself looked so gruff. However, it never actually left a strong impression on me and it only allowed me to acknowledge the existance of this new (to me) Enka singer.
His newest single on the other hand (released on 27th August 2014) first caught my attention by being up and around the Top 10 in the weekly Enka-yo Oricon list. It apparently stayed on for a solid 10 weeks and the highest it got was 49th place on the regular charts. So since it seemed like it had a pretty good reputation, I thought I'd give it a listen.
The next thing that drew me closer to "Abare Funa Uta" during the listen was its rollicking and fairly manly tune, especially with the electric guitar revving away and the thumping drums. I have no clue what the song is about... I'm guessing it has something to do with boats, or probably some sea-shanty-like thing since "Funa uta" means "Boat song". Ohkawa also goes, "Ha su choi choi!" after the chorus, which sounds like something a sailor would yell out while on the high seas trawling for some fish. (Update from 4/1/15, courtesy of J-Canuck) Turns out the song's about a guy who'd rather spend his time out at sea rather than staying dry on land. Not a landlubber huh?
"Abare Funa Uta" had its lyrics done by Osamu Yoshioka (吉岡治) and was composed by the late Shousuke Ichikawa (市川昭介).
Seriously, scarves seemed to be "in" at that point in time.
Even Ichiro Toba wore one in "Shigure tabi"!
But dang, Ohkawa looks pretty cool in this picture.
Veteran enka singerEisaku Ohkawa（大川栄策）always had that look as if he had retired from a previous career in the boxing ring. I've never noticed any cauliflower ears but he's had that stocky build and puffy nose. And yet, he has a voice that is pure and resonant and distinguishes itself from the whispery huskiness of Shinichi Mori（森進一）and the powerful crackliness of Saburo Kitajima（北島三郎）.
And when it comes to Ohkawa, one song always comes to mind since it has been his greatest hit thus far. "Sazanka no Yado"(Inn of the Yuletide Camellia) is about as enka as an enka song can get with Jiro Takemura's（竹村次郎）arrangement of Shosuke Ichikawa's（市川昭介）delicate music. It almost comes across as the musical equivalent of a geisha making her walk down the side streets of Kyoto to where she works. Meanwhile, Osamu Yoshioka's（吉岡治）lyrics speak of a man's agony in his love for a woman who's already betrothed to another. The words refer to the season of winter and therefore of the man's discontent as he prays somehow for spring to return.
For Ohkawa, his sad vocals could have come from his own life. He debuted in 1969 with "Men nai Chidori"（目ン無い千鳥...Plovers Without Eyes）under the aegis of his mentor, composer Masao Koga（古賀政男）. The song became a hit but after that, Ohkawa never could grab that brass ring again for 13 years. It was a very long and difficult dry spell for him during which Koga passed away in 1978. However, "Sazanka no Yado" became a huge hit after its release in August 1982, getting as high as No. 2 on Oricon and becoming the top song of 1983 with a total of 1.8 million in record sales. It won the Long Seller's Prize at the Japan Record Awards, and I wonder if Ohkawa had been keeping his old master in his head when he went to pick up that prize and then perform at the Kohaku Utagassen. It made for a fine story of redemption.
One humourous story of Ohkawa I will share with you. I'm not sure if he has ever lived it down but he was once a victim of a practical joke on the Japanese version of "Candid Camera" in which he found himself playing golf with a pretty woman. It turned out that the woman was really a porn actress and she was wearing a skimpy mini-skirt and a V-neck sweater with no bra. The audience had a ball laughing as they watched Ohkawa squeeing like a little boy at Xmas as he supposedly nonchalantly tried to look down the woman's sweater. I was rather lucky to have seen that episode on a video tape somewhere.
