Yoshie Kashiwabara -- Shiawase Ondo（しあわせ音頭）

 

Listening to music all these decades and handling KKP for the past fourteen years, of course, I know all about those 45" singles and CD singles with their A/B sides and coupling songs. Sometimes though on a singer's J-Wiki discography, I encounter something called the kikaku single（企画シングル）or "planned single". I'm still not 100% on the meaning or purpose of these things, but from my experience, I can glean that they refer to special releases by a singer tackling a genre that's not usually in their wheelhouse.

And thus, we come to Yoshie Kashiwabara's（柏原芳恵）"Shiawase Ondo" (Happy Folk Song). I found this song just recently on YouTube and it took me a little longer than usual to track this down since "Shiawase Ondo" hadn't been included on Yoshie-chan's long single list. It was placed on the...you guessed it...the kikaku single list and it even got its own entry on J-Wiki.

I guess it's because Kashiwabara was covering something that wasn't her usual aidoru stuff. Released early in her career, July 1982, "Shiawase Ondo" is all about the festival minyo, and the dead giveaway was the title's use of ondo which is often used for the traditional folk songs of Japan. She's got quite the adorably cute delivery of Masato Fujita's（藤田まさと）lyrics but the music is also notable not only for the old-style jaunty folk (vocal whoops included) but the fact that it sounds quite Okinawan and technopop at the same time. I started thinking that Yellow Magic Orchestra had been involved, and sure enough, one third of the group, Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）, provided the melody which Nobuyuki Shimizu（清水信之）then arranged into a spacey yet familiar tune that the kids would love to dance to. 

For Yoshie fans, "Shiawase Ondo" must have been quite the rare thing to covet since this kikaku single hadn't gotten onto an original album for years until March 2004 when it was finally included on the aidoru's CD box set "Kashiwabara Yoshie Premium Box"（柏原芳恵 プレミアムBOX）. The single itself peaked at No. 70 on Oricon.

Frank Nagai/Makoto Fujita -- Osaka Gurashi (大阪ぐらし)

Quite some time ago I got a re-released 2011 version of Hachiro Kasuga's Osaka song album, "Kasuga Hachiro Osaka wo Utau" (春日八郎 大阪を歌う... Originally known as "Osaka Joucho" (大阪情緒)). I was aware that the album contained both his original works as well as covers, but the jewel case description and lyric booklet, being the "most helpful" one I'd ever come across, had me doing a guessing game to see which was which. Some were straightforward, like "Soemoncho Blues" (宗右衛門町ブルース), but some had me absolutely clueless - "Pat, I'd like to buy a vowel."

Case in point, "Osaka Gurashi". It was the first track in the album and the first I listened to as I ripped the CD on to my laptop. When I heard the smooth synths sliding at a leisurely pace, it came across as a typical enka song that's easy on the ears. Coupled with the effortless way Hachi hits those notes at polar ends of the a couple of octaves, "Osaka Gurashi" sounded like the quintessential Kasuga-bushi. However, for some reason, in spite of how much I liked it, I found that he sounded quite awkward at times. Certain portions, like the last stanza, which I felt should have a gruffer, manlier edge - because, y'know, Osaka pride - sounded so tame in Kasuga's modulated delivery. So I begged to differ on the full-on Kasuga-bushi and thought of someone more... abrasive. Hideo Murata (村田英雄) popped in, but at the same time he didn't seem to fit the bill.

And then I finally decided to not be lazy and unravel this mystery by looking up "Osaka Gurashi" online. The first result brought up the Mood Kayo crooner with the voice of velvet, Frank Nagai (フランク永井). Because of my aforementioned impression of the song, I quite literally went, "Whaaat? For real?" But other results said loud and clear that Nagai was, indeed, the original singer.

I listened to his rendition still rather skeptical, but I assented when the music hit my ears. Unlike Kasuga's cover, Nagai's arrangement had a slower tempo that, I suppose, can be likened to the languid flow of the many waterways that criss-cross Osaka, and a heavy emphasis on the horns which, coupled with Nagai's soft vocals, gives an overall nostalgic atmosphere to "Osaka Gurashi". With it sounding like this, I could more or less understand how this was under Nagai's repertoire. However, objectively, I still do prefer Hachi's take, which I wish was available online so that I could show you guys what I mean.

Anyway, "Osaka Gurashi" was made in 1964 with its music composed by Masao Ono (大野正雄). Writing the words was Takeo Ishihama (石浜恒夫), and it's as Osaka as one can get with places like the renowned Hozenji Yokocho, the strange-looking Tsutenkaku tower, and the Shogi whiz Sankichi Sakata being thrown into the mix. Being as it is, I'm quite surprised that it's not as well-known a Go-touchi song (ご当地ソング) as something like "Osho" (王将) or "Tsuki no Hozenji Yokocho" (月の法善寺横町).

(1:06)

As with most of Nagai's songs, "Osaka Gurashi" had been covered by actor-singer Makoto Fujita (藤田まこと). Frankly, I also do prefer Fujita's version to the original as his gritty and guttural delivery does fit bill better - I suppose he was the one my brain was trying to find when I was playing my "Who Sang This Song?" guessing game.

Frank Nagai/Makoto Fujita -- Kiriko no Tango (霧子のタンゴ)

For some reason, I always manage to confuse Mood Kayo crooner Frank Nagai's (フランク 永井) "Kiriko no Tango" with Jazz singer Dick Mine's (ディック・ミネ) "Yogiri no Blues" (夜霧のブルース). I think may be due to both songs having the character "Kiri" (霧) and "no" (の) in it, so at one quick glance, I'd assume one was the other until the song starts playing.

As the name implies, "Kiriko no Tango" sounds very Tango-esque with its steady, rhythmic beat and trumpets, and elegant strings, there seems to be some accordion in it too. Together with Nagai's lovely baritone, it really makes me imagine a couple doing... well, the Tango under some soft lighting.  It was composed and written by Tadashi Yoshida (吉田正), and it can't get anymore Latin Mood Kayo than that! Whereas "Yogiri no Blues", which I have only just listened to while writing this, is not as upbeat; it's your typical Jazz Mood Kayo that sounds perfect to listen to at a quiet bar while having a drink.

"Kiriko no Tango" is at the 2:30 mark

Anyway, before actually listening to the original a few weeks back, I had come across various "Kiriko no Tango" covers. One of those would be by singer-actor Makoto Fujita (藤田まこと), who seems to sing Nagai's hits quite often. Though his throaty delivery is not as smooth as the man himself, it still is quite a good effort, and his voice still sends shivers down my spine - the good type - when he hits the low notes, like at the start. Man, I wish he were still alive. It'd be great to see him on shows like "Kayo Concert".

Speaking of "Kayo Concert", the theme for last week's episode was dancing songs. It was a pretty good episode with Yukio Hashi (橋幸夫) singing "Koi no Mexican rock" (恋のメキシカンロック) and Teruhiko Saigo (西郷輝彦), "Hoshi no Flamenco" (星のフラメンコ), and of course "Kiriko no Tango" was being sung, this time by Kiyoshi Maekawa (前川清). Of all weeks he had to appear during the week I was off on vacation... Well, I had the episode recorded to watch it when I got back, but still, I much prefer watching it live on Tuesday nights while melting into the couch. And I don't know why I expected him to move more, I suppose it's because of the nature of the song. Instead he just did his usual shtick of standing there motionless like a pillar with that unamused look on his face.

That is one weird shade of green to wear. (The Mae-Kiyo video got taken down, so here's Itsuki's rendition).

"Kiriko no Tango" was released in 1962, and it seems pretty successful, judging by the number of times it's being sung by other singers.

blog.udn.com

Makoto Fujita -- Juso no Yoru (十三の夜)

Now this was a name I'd never heard of before, Makoto Fujita (藤田まこと)... but it could be because I'm not as well versed in the world of actors/actresses as I am with singers. Let's just say the only proper Japanese actor I'm most familiar with and like quite a fair bit is veteran star, Masakazu Tamura (田村正和) for playing the lead role of the eccentric yet sharp detective with little to no sense of privacy in 'Furuhata Ninzaburo' (古畑 任三郎).

I had only discovered Fujita  recently while searching for videos of Enka singer Aki Yashiro (八代亜紀) singing her hit 'Onna Minato Machi' (おんな港町). It was then where I eventually uncovered a video of the Queen of Enka doing a duet with the actor (whom I had learnt also did a little singing) and they sang the 50's duet classic, 'Tokyo Nightclub' (東京ナイトクラブ), originally by the late Mood Kayo crooner Frank Nagai and Kazuko Matsuo (フランク永井 . 松尾和子).

Anyway, Fujita who was probably at least 70 years old at that time, looked polished in that dapper suit which fitted that rather pleasant voice - deep and mellow at some points. Since that voice of his piqued my interest I decided to look for songs by him. And the first proper one that came up in YouTube's search engine was 'Juso no Yoru'.

http://hello.ap.teacup.com/koinu/829.html

Now I'm not very familiar with places in Japan, so I had no inkling that Juso's a place in Osaka. What's more the characters for Juso (十三) also mean thirteen in the Chinese language, which had me assuming the song - written and composed by Fujita himself - was about being the 13th night of something. But after looking at the lyrics, that didn't seem right since part of the song went like this:

Ne-chan, Ne-chan, Juso no Ne-chan ( 娘ちゃん娘ちゃん 十三の娘ちゃん )

Thus making my assumption... well, an assumption. Only after watching a video with just the song along with a picture show did that confirm that Juso was a place - there were pictures of the train station there with signs saying 'Juso'.

The song itself, released in 1971 (that's all the information I have on it) sounded like the usual Mood Kayo tune you'd hear with the lonely blare of the trumpet at the start. In my opinion, 'Juso no Yoru' seemed to share some similarities in terms of music with another Mood Kayo hit from 1972 on another place in Osaka, 'Soemon cho blues' (宗右衛門町ブルース) by Katsuji Heiwa & Dark horse (平和勝次とダークホース). It's either that or I don't have very discerning ears. Oh well.

I did some research on Fujita... his most well-known role seemed to be from playing Mondo Nakamura (中村主水) in a long-running period drama series called 'Hissatsu series' (必殺シリーズ) from 1972 which ran well into the 80's and sort of ended in 1991. But it had many of those specials that brought it into the 2000's. Unfortunately he passed away 4 years ago in 2010 at the age of 76.

The video above is of Fujita singing 'Juso no yoru' in 2006 on an episode of 'Kayo Concert'. And if you want to check out the video of him and Yashiro singing 'Tokyo Nightclub', its in the link below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClLFcRm3fEc