Keiko Matsuyama -- Juu-kyu no Ukikusa（十九の浮草）

Outside of the upcoming edition of the Kohaku in less than 3 weeks, it looks like the kayo shows are on hiatus until the middle of January or so. Therefore, I guess that I will have to rely on whatever I can find in my collection or on YouTube to see what enka or Mood Kayo I can dig up for the time being.

I did find this chestnut from way back in the 1950s by the late Keiko Matsuyama（松山恵子）titled "Juu-kyu no Ukikusa" (Precarious 19). From the title and the lyrics by Kiyoshi Maki（牧喜代司）, this particular enka tune is about a young woman (or girl, since in Japan, one is not officially an adult until the age of 20) pining for that fellow with whom she had some sort of relationship but is now parted from him, perhaps permanently. Matsuyama's vocals also show that feeling of longing and mourning.

Munetaka Hakamada's（袴田宗孝...still not sure about the reading）melody and arrangement reflects that sound of music that I had always associated with kayo from the postwar era: a studio orchestra reflecting the drama among the backdrop of the surrounding industriousness that Japan was engaging in while getting back on its feet. I could imagine that the setting is on some busy pier by the ocean or even in the rice paddies in a landlocked prefecture. Hakamada also composed Matsuyama's later hit, "O-Wakare Koshu Denwa"（お別れ公衆電話）.

According to J-Wiki, "Juu-kyu no Ukikusa" was released in October 1956 as a B-side to Takeo Fujishima's（藤島桓夫）"Wakai Sendou da yo"（若い船頭だよ...I'm A Boatman!）. I'm not sure of the practice but apparently it was common back then to place two different singers and songs on the flip sides of a 45". For Matsuyama, "Juu-kyu no Ukikusa" became a huge hit for her although she never sang the song on the Kohaku Utagassen for which she would appear 8 times.

One piece of trivia that I could find about Matsuyama is that in her later years, as seen in the above video, she had a tradition whenever she appeared on stage of wearing this huge and heavy gown that according to J-Wiki weighed about 30 to 40 kg. I think with that tiara, she looked like an ageless princess.

Keiko Matsuyama -- O-Wakare Koshu Denwa （お別れ公衆電話）

Another song I picked up on during the most recent edition of "Uta Con" (うたコン) back on Tuesday night was a mournful ballad titled "O-Wakare Koshu Denwa" (Parting in a Phone Booth), originally sung by the late Keiko Matsuyama（松山恵子）.

Even at the intro, as soon as I saw the title, I just went "Wow! What a perfectly appropriate title for a Mood Kayo/enka tune". There's nothing so bittersweet than breaking up by phone at some rainy train station although I wonder if the method today is by LINE in Japan. What would be the emoji for breaking up, by the way? Still, although it's the most difficult way, I think parting in person is the right thing to do.

Anyways, "O-Wakare Koshu Denwa" was released in 1959 as one of Matsuyama's signature songs when she was around 22 years old. This is one of those songs that I couldn't really decide whether it was an enka tune or a Mood Kayo affair. The singer's lament on love lost would certainly indicate a Mood Kayo but despite the sad horn section, the tempo and the melody still remind me of an old-style enka. What also stands out was the use of that organ at the intro and outro along with the brief piano solo during the instrumental bridge.

The performance during "Uta Con" and the performance by Matsuyama herself above bring a much less intimate and brassier feeling to "O-Wakare Koshu Denwa" so that it does really feel like a full Mood Kayo. Despite the song wrapping around the setting of a phone booth, perhaps the booth is now in the middle of Ginza. The song was written by Tetsuro Fujima（藤間哲郎）and composed by Munetaka Hakamada（袴田宗孝....not quite sure on the reading of the family name）.

Keiko Matsuyama was born Tsuneko Okazaki（岡崎恒好）in 1937 in Fukuoka Prefecture although soon after the war, her family moved to the city of Uwajima in Ehime Prefecture. Debuting in 1955 with "Yoimachi Waltz"（宵町ワルツ）, she would release many singles and even appear on NHK's Kohaku Utagassen for a total of 8 times including consecutive appearances between 1957 to 1963 although she wouldn't perform "O-Wakare Koshu Denwa" on any of those shows as well as on her final appearance in 1989. Matsuyama passed away at the age of 69 in May 2006. To commemorate that particular song, a special phone booth was constructed in JR Uwajima Station.