Leon Niihama -- Subete Ageyou（全てあげよう）

 

A couple of days ago, we caught the most recent episode of NHK's "Hayauta"（はやウタ）, the early morning kayo kyoku show. I have to marvel at how the national broadcaster ever had the bright idea of showing a music program on Mondays at eye-blearingly early 4:15 am. I can only gather that there are folks out there who are either waking up or going to bed in the wee hours but they still need some sort of entertainment. Whatever the case, the idea is working since the show has been going on for some time now.

In any case, this song must have jolted a few folks since it is so super dynamic. Singer Leon Niihama（新浜レオン） may have begun his career as an enka singer (I wrote about his first digital single back in 2020) but with his latest 6th single from March, he's gone for something very upbeat and pop. This is "Subete Ageyou" (Let's Give It Our All), a song of giving into one's very ardent desires, preferably not while alone. On "Hayauta", Niihama mentioned that the inspiration for the song was the late great Hideki Saijo's（西城秀樹）more emotion-laden tunes from the 1970s and indeed, Niihama does it give it his all here.

Veteran entertainer George Tokoro（所ジョージ）was behind words and music while smaller Tunnel Noritake Kinashi（木梨憲武）was in charge of production, and now that I know that Nori was the producer, I can even hear some of his vocal licks within "Subete Ageyou". Maybe Niihama is heading for a more tongue-in-cheek pop direction for his music, perhaps with a bit of a wink from Ikuzo Yoshi（吉幾三）, another enka veteran who's also been rather comical.

Well, whaddaya know? There he is along with Nori in dreads and George in yellow.

Leon Niihama -- Tsukamaete, Kon'ya（捕まえて、今夜。）

 

I sometimes think that ever since Da Pump got that hit with "U.S.A." half a decade ago, a lot of singers and bands including Da Pump have been attempting to grab choreographical glory with some dance that will become the pop cultural craze of the year. Da Pump tried to do that last night with their latest song on "Uta Con"（うたコン）and a few weeks ago, enka singer Leon Niihama（新浜レオン）had given it a go on the NHK show with some dance moves accompanying a single that he released last month in May. Basically, they look like a newfangled version of Mr. Miyagi's "Wax on, wax off" technique from the "Karate Kid", and Niihama was teaching the hosts and audience on how to pull it off during the performance.

The crazy thing is that "Tsukamaete, Kon'ya" (Catch Me, Tonight) was used as the opening theme for a short anime spinoff from the "Meitantei Conan"（名探偵コナン...Case Closed） series last fall. "Hannin no Hanzawa-san"（犯人の犯沢さん...The Culprit Hanzawa） had its run between October and December 2022, and this time, instead of the pint-sized genius detective having the spotlight, the focus this time was on the mystery villain who had always been shown as an androgynous figure all in black until their identity was finally revealed due to Conan's sleuthing prowess. Heck, the opening credits even had Ran Mohri and Ai Haibara waxing on and off.

"Tsukamaete, Kon'ya" also takes a tangent from the usual "Conan" themes of pop and rock and goes for a dynamic Latin Mood Kayo vibe with some dance beats added. EARSY provided the lyrics with Toshiya Kamada（鎌田俊哉）and Koji Makaino（馬飼野康二）as co-composers. Motoki Funayama（船山基紀）arranged everything. 

Leon Niihama -- Dame Dame...（ダメ ダメ…）

 

Although this has been a slight point of contention even among the artists themselves, the City Pop of Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）, Mariya Takeuchi（竹内まりや）and Makoto Matsushita（松下誠）has had its 21st-century analogue in the form of Neo-City Pop with folks like Kirinji（キリンジ）, Ryusenkei（流線形）and Hitomitoi（一十三十一）. Perhaps by the same token, the Mood Kayo of Frank Nagai（フランク永井）, Los Indios and The Cool Five has their new version with acts like Junretsu（純烈）and this young fellow.

I wrote about Chiba Prefecture-born enka and kayo singer Leon Niihama（新浜レオン）a couple of years ago with his "Kimi wo Motomete"（君を求めて）due to the fact that I saw him perform the song on an episode of "Uta Con"（うたコン）. It felt like an enka/Mood Kayo mix with some octane-filled pizzazz via a dynamic arrangement including horns. Some weeks ago, Niihama appeared on the NHK show again to perform a May 2021 single "Dame Dame..." (No, No Way).

"Dame, Dame..." is another energetic blast, best illustrated by the music video with Niihama and a couple of women getting into dance moves and gestures while lasers are flying away harder than at the Empire/Rebellion battle of the Death Star. Written by Aoi Yamazaki（山崎あおい）, the lyrics are an open challenge to the usual broken romance tropes of staying stoic and admitting that the affair was another case of two ships passing in the night. As Niihama sings out "Is is really being a man to wish for one's happiness when saying goodbye to a woman forever?". Hmmm...things that make you go Hmmm.

Perhaps it's the Latin infused into Koji Makaino（馬飼野康二）and Toshiya Kamada's（鎌田俊哉）melody and Motoki Funayama's（船山基紀）arrangement, but I think that this can be a form of Neo-Mood Kayo. Nope, it may not have the same feel as the sultry and oft-mournful Mood Kayo of the past since songs like "Dame, Dame..." has a much peppier tempo and there are those contemporary synthesizers thrown into the mix. However, I can't help but feel that there is something very old-fashioned kayo about it. On that note, maybe it does straddle the line between Mood Kayo and pop. In any case, "Dame, Dame..." managed to peak at No. 12 on Oricon.

One more thing about the new Mood Kayo: I guess suits and backup choruses are now optional.

Leon Niihama -- Kimi wo Motomete（君を求めて）

I think the musical arrangement of enka and perhaps even Mood Kayo is changing in at least some of their songs. The genres might even be melding. Enka in decades past to me was always about the traditional instruments including the koto, the shamisen and the shakuhachi whereas Mood Kayo often involved Latin and/or jazz rhythms with a brassy orchestra behind the singer. But nowadays, when the new breed of enka singers lands on TV to perform their latest, there seems to be more of an injection of rock (and maybe even R&B) at times, and it sounds like the songwriters have been asked to throw in some more pizzazz at the expense of some majesty. Not that I begrudge this development. Everything evolves over time...languages have done so, and I see music as a language.

My little internal analysis comes on the heels of "Kimi wo Motomete" (Desiring You) which is the first of enka singer Leon Niihama's（新浜レオン）digital download singles that was released in May this year. He had actually debuted in 2019 with three CD singles under his belt. In fact, Niihama was heralded as having made his debut on the very first day of the Reiwa Era, according to the J-Wiki article about him. To add onto the interest, the lad is the very first enka singer under the Being label, the same entertainment conglomerate taking care of acts such as B'z and Mai Kuraki（倉木麻衣）.

I first saw him on last week's "Uta Con"（うたコン）performing "Kimi wo Motomete" which has that mix of the more contemporary enka laden with electric guitar and dynamic horns and some of that Latin spice from Mood Kayo albeit with more hip-swiveling. I'd say that there is enough action in Koji Makaino's（馬飼野康二）melody that "Kimi wo Motomete" could even do well as a theme song for a current tokusatsu show. Keiko Serizawa（セリザワケイコ）provided the lyrics of a man really crying out for his lady in love.

Watching his performance on "Uta Con" and then seeing the official music video (in its full glory!), I rather wonder if Niihama is seen in the same light when Kiyoshi Hikawa（氷川きよし）made his grand entrance into the spotlight two decades earlier. Would he be the new Boy Prince of enka? I could imagine Hikawa looking at Niihama and sighing wistfully "Yes, I remember it well...".

For a bit more trivia on Niihama, he was born in 1996 as Yuuki Takajo（高城勇貴）in Shirai City, Chiba Prefecture. He's the son of another enka singer Yasuo Takajo（高城靖雄）, and in February 2020, Niihama won Best New Artist honours in the enka/kayo kyoku field at the Japan Gold Disc Awards.