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.
From time to time, I've talked about some of the morning news shows that I used to see as a resident in Japan. During my years there, I caught NTV's "Zoom In!! Asa!"（ズームイン!!朝!）, later switching over to Fuji-TV's"Mezamashi Terebi"（めざましテレビ）, and I remember their theme songs very well. However, one morning show that I never caught was TV Asahi's entry "Ohayo Asahi desu"（おはよう朝日です...Good Morning, Asahi） which started its run from 1979 and is still going on today.
As with the other two morning shows that I did see, "Ohayo Asahi desu" has had its long line of theme songs, and the first one happened to be "Ashita no Sora" (Tomorrow's Sky), specifically made for the program by folk duo Kami Fusen（紙ふうせん）, who are famous for their 1977 hit, "Fuyu ga Kuru Mae ni" （冬が来る前に）.
Written and composed by Etsujiro Goto（後藤悦治郎）, one-half of the duo which also included his wife, Yasuyo Hirayama（平山泰代）, I'd say that "Ashita no Sora" is a nice mix of folk and pop that's kinda along the lines of Kami Fusen's sister group, Hi-Fi Set（ハイ・ファイ・セット）, a pleasant aural version of orange juice. And I gather that everyone involved must have enjoyed the song since this very first theme song lasted for 15 years until 1994!
The early 70s folk group, Akai Tori（赤い鳥）, who had their biggest hit with "Tsubasa wo Kudasai"（翼をください）, broke up in 1974 with two new groups being formed from amongst its members. One of those groups, led by vocal/guitarist Junko Yamamoto（山本潤子）, became the pop vocal group Hi-Fi Set, while Akai Tori guitarist Etsujiro Goto（後藤悦治郎） and vocal/pianist Yasuyo Hirayama（平山泰代） became personal and professional partners with the latter formation being dubbed Kami Fusen (紙ふうせん...Paper Balloon).
Kami Fusen debuted in 1974 with "Ikatsuri Uta"（いかつり唄....Squid Fishing Song), but the duo's biggest hit was their 5th single,"Fuyu ga Kuru Mae ni"(Before The Winter Comes), released in November 1977. Although it's been labeled as a folk song, especially with that pretty intro, it's also got quite a bit of pop muscle in it as well with that electric guitar and that urgent rhythm section, thanks to composer Tada (?) Urano（浦野直）. Goto's lyrics, delivered by Hirayama, talk of that departed lover who cannot be forgotten.
"Fuyu ga Kuru Mae ni" had actually been created near the end of 1976, but over the year, the concert reaction to it was very positive so the decision was made to release it as a single. Good choice, as it peaked at No. 4 in 1978 and eventually became the 27th-ranked single of that year. Since then, it's been covered by Akina Nakamori（中森明菜） and members of Hello Project. And not surprisingly, like the aforementioned "Tsubasa wo Kudasai", the song has also become a mainstay for those high school choral groups and music classes.
