Mari Ueda -- Kotoshi no Aki wa（今年の秋は）

From Good Free Photos

 

Well, now that we are in the first full week of autumn, I guess that it might be time for those roasted chestnuts and pumpkin spice lattes. Toronto might be jumping the gun, though, since so far, it's been feeling a bit more summery than usual although it's not stifling out here. 

I was looking for a nice autumn-themed J-Pop song or kayo kyoku today when I encountered a ranking list of such songs at the "Ranking Book" website. At No. 30 is "Kotoshi no Aki wa" (This Autumn is) by a singer and songwriter that I first introduced back in 2017 for her mellow "sunrichorange" from 1998.

"Kotoshi no Aki wa" was actually the coupling song to Mari Ueda's（上田まり）debut single "Tsutaetai"（伝えたい...I Want to Tell You） from September 1998. From listening a few times to both "sunrichorange" and "Kotoshi no Aki wa", I gather that the bluesy guitar could have been a regular accompaniment. Just like "sunrichorange", "Kotoshi no Aki wa" is plenty relaxing but with a few more interesting chord changes. 

In the last six years between Ueda articles, I've found out that her official website has gone the way of the dodo.

Mari Ueda -- sunrichorange

Happy Monday! Back to the grindstone but allow me to give a bit of added sunshine to the beginning of your week.

I always like it when I encounter a nice song that I had never heard before. A lot of iceberg to still pick through. This time, it's singer-songwriter Mari Ueda's（上田まり）"sunrichorange", and yeah, this is kinda like some naturally fortified OJ for the ears.

"sunrichorange" is a track from Ueda's 2nd album "empty page" which was released in August 1999. The arrangement reminds me of some of the lovely music that Toko Furuuchi（古内東子）came up with during the latter part of that decade. It would be nice if that sunny soul would return for another go-around. Certainly, it's a song that would be perfect to wake up to.

The Osaka-born Ueda was a keyboardist for a band during her university days. Once she graduated, though, she had the aim of going into songwriting full-time when musician Nobuo Eguchi（江口信夫）advised her to sing her own songs. Even Aska of Chage & Aska fame listened to a demo tape and was suitably impressed to the extent that he helped out as a supervisor.

Ueda released 6 singles and 3 albums between 1998 and 2001 but hasn't released anything on CD since then, although she did put out several songs for online distribution in 2007. She has her own website in which it says her profession is currently "mother".