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.
Showing posts with label Masakazu Tamura. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Masakazu Tamura. Show all posts
I did forget that Masakazu Tamura（田村正和）also had his fun in commercials as well. Anyways, I promised in my first tribute to the actor whose passing had been announced within the last few days that I would come up with a further tribute through the theme songs that adorned some of his 1980s and 1990s dramas. They all have their own articles on the blog so I will just treat as a hub to get in touch with those pages. However, I will mention the song, singer, drama and year of broadcast.
Even though I've said that I'd rather not watch dramas because of my tendency to binge watch when given the opportunity, I still do so occasionally. The most recent series I caught was "Utsukushii Hito" (美しい人) starring Masakazu Tamura (田村正和) as a kind and gentle cosmetic surgeon who gets his peaceful life of attending to patients and his herb garden turned upside down when he accepts a dubious request from one patient. All in all, I kinda liked the how show creatively incorporated different herbs and their lore into each of the ten episodes, as well as Tamura's endearing character, but the constant twists and it's ending left me somewhat... unsatisfied. Maybe I had set my hopes too high for an ending different from what I witnessed.
Ah well, moving on. Having already viewed a few entries in Tamura's extensive filmography, it never occurred to me that the veteran actor sings or had a short foray in the music business whatsoever like many others I've seen. In fact, if I'm not wrong, an episode of "Furuhata Ninzaburo" (古畑任三郎) sort of poked fun at his seeming inability to sing - assuming that the voice on the tape was really his. Still, how funny would it be to see Mr. Furuhata belting out some kind of song?
Wow, Tamura on the electric guitar!?
Then I found "Sora Ippai no Namida". Oh boy was this a rare and lucky find! I listened to it immediately upon finding it with an initial mix of apprehension and amusement, and the moment I heard that rumbling voice of his reach my eager ears it turned to pure amusement and I couldn't stop a grin from spreading across my face. He doesn't sound exceptionally terrible but let's just say that I'm very, very glad that he stuck to acting. And now I know why his singing ability was made fun of.
As for the music, it's pretty unique and has a Western vibe with that quick pace and the electric guitar. I'm unable to find the lyrics, but judging from the way Tamura belted it out it seems like one of those heartfelt ballads that a main character in a movie would dedicate to his special one. On the other hand, it could also possibly be a one of anguish after a break up.
There isn't much information on "Sora Ippai no Namida", not even who had written and composed it, the only thing I managed to find thus far was that it was released in 1966 and was used as the theme song to a movie of the same name with Tamura in the lead role with actress Akiko Nakamura (中村晃子) cast alongside him.
A scene from "Sora Ippai no Namida", the
movie.
page6.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/f145209865
To round off the article, I'd like to share the first result that caught my eye before "Sora Ippai no Namida" came along. It was a snippet drama (not sure what it's called) that had a young Tamura - I just find it so entertaining to see him so different appearance-wise. While it was strange to see him in a glaring, quintessentially 70's white suit and without his signature shoulder-length coiffed hair, that intense stare from those sharp eyes beneath furrowed brows still gets me every time - he looks so cute when he does that... Sorry.
