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 Michiko Takaoka. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Michiko Takaoka. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 10, 2022

Michiko Takaoka -- Tasogare(たそがれ)

 


A little over three years ago, I wrote up an article on a song by singer-songwriter Michiko Takaoka(高岡美智子)that ended up as her 7th and final single from July 1981. "Mawari Tourou"(まわり燈籠)is a pretty jaunty folk/pop song that talks of the endurance of love despite all of the existential storms that may attack it from all sides.


Well, today I've discovered another song of hers from several years back. In fact, it's a track from her January 1976 sophomore album "Takaoka Michiko" that comes through the aegis of YouTuber 58RNA3QD. "Tasogare" (Sunset) contrasts rather nicely with the later "Mawari Tourou" since with its strutting arrangement of Takaoka's melody by Mitsuo Hagita(萩田光雄), there's something more solidly New Music with this one, almost but not quite taking things into the City Pop vein. Eiko Matsumiya(松宮英子)was behind the lyrics.

What I could find out about Takaoka has been described in the "Mawari Tourou" article via J-Wiki, but I did find out from "Idol.ne.jp" that the singer hails from Matsuyama City, Ehime Prefecture. On another note, the term tasogare always gets my radar going since it's been a common word in kayo titles, often enough in the ones regarding City Pop.

Monday, April 22, 2019

Michiko Takaoka -- Mawari Tourou(まわり燈籠)


Came across this song a few months ago and took a liking to it for its spritely arrangement as a folk/pop song.


"Mawari Tourou" (The Turning Hanging Lantern) was singer-songwriter Michiko Takaoka's(高岡美智子)7th and final single released in July 1981. I couldn't find the lyrics for the song online but I think that the singer is encapsulating the passion of love within that lantern as it keeps turning and turning despite all of the existential storms that may surround it. Perhaps it is a bittersweet story but the galloping beat of "Mawari Tourou" keeps things pretty light, all things considered.

The husky-voiced Takaoka debuted in 1974 with her November single "Watashi no Koto nara Ki ni Shinakutemo Ii wa"(私の事なら気にしなくてもいいわ...No Need to Worry About Me) and along with her singles, she released two albums with the latter one also being called "Mawari Tourou" from 1981.