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 Misuzu Children's Choral Group. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Misuzu Children's Choral Group. Show all posts
It is (or was in Japan) July 7th 2025 which means another day to celebrate Tanabata, commemorating the star-crossed lovers Orihime and Hikoboshi. This year, though, is particularly auspicious because July 7th is falling in the 7th year of Reiwa (another way of saying 2025 in Japan) and so people noticing that it is the 7th day of the 7th month in the 7th year, much hay has been made out of it. For example, couples have been flooding their local city halls to register their marriages today and in a lot of supermarkets, some products have been priced at 777 yen.
Now, I've done my commemorating of the holiday sometimes on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" for specific songs in the past, but this time, I've decided to become a little more ambitious by applying a few gimmicks to this Author's Pick.
First off, let's provide three songs that have something to do with the number 7.
(1967) The Echoes and The Misuzu Children's Choral Group -- Theme from Ultra Seven （ウルトラセブンの歌）
Yup, earlier today I met up with my good friend Danny for lunch and then to catch the latest Marvel entry "Thunderbolts*". And indeed, although I had already gotten some buzz that the movie was actually pretty darn good, I was still surprised to see, hear and feel a beating heart under all those special effects, intra-team sniping and gaudy uniforms. Maybe there is some hope for the MCU at last.
Well, I was kinda wondering how I could somehow connect that movie with anything to do with Japanese music. "Thunderbolts*" didn't come up with any assigned J-Pop song when the movie was shown in Japan. However, a bolt was struck within my cobwebbed memories. Decades ago, when I was perusing those thick manga especially meant for the kiddies, I found this one tokusatsu hero called Thunder Mask. Broadcast as a TV series in 1972, Thunder Mask was another one of those acrobatic sweep-kicking ministers of justice that was so tour de force in the 1970s. I just read that the God of Manga himself, Osamu Tezuka（手塚治虫）, was impressed enough with "Thunder Mask" the show that he even made a manga adaptation of the series at around the same time. So, perhaps what I saw in the manga back then was the Tezuka original.
Of course, you can't have a tokusatsu hero show without a rousing opening theme sung by an exhorting male singer accompanied by a children's chorus or a vocal group. In this case, "Thunder Mask" had both the kids' chorus and a vocal group. Indeed, the Misuzu Children's Choral Group（みすず児童合唱団） and The Blessin' Four（ ザ・フレッシング・フォー）joined Hiroshi Wakagi（若木ヒロシ）to perform "Thunder Mask" as this typically proud march for the fans. Kazumi Sada（佐田一美）was the lyricist while Takeo Watanabe（渡辺岳夫）took care of the melody.
Ahh...it's truly a pity that I lost the single cover for the "Ultraman Ace"（ウルトラマンA）theme so many years ago. It was kakkoii with the tokusatsu hero front and centre performing that famous Ultraman pose with the right fist and arm outstretched toward the viewer while their left counterparts were coiled down, ready to strike themselves.
I wrote the article on the triumphant theme song for "Ultraman Ace" back in 2013 and mentioned that during our very first trip to Japan in 1972, my brother and I enjoyed the show of Ace battling the evil monsters with his array of beams while the defense organization connected with him, TAC (standing for Terrible Monster Attacking Crew), was helping out with its own arsenal.
Of course, it was Ultraman Ace that we came to see weekly but I gotta admit that I hadn't been aware that TAC had so many weapons and ships at its disposal to make the Thunderbirds take notice. I mean, the force had the TAC Falcon, the TAC Arrow and the Golden Hawk among other vehicles. What's not to admire?
TAC also had its own kickass song to match the one for "Ultraman Ace", simply called "TAC no Uta" (The TAC Song). According to J-Wiki, the original version had been recorded by vocal group Honey Knights（ハニー・ナイツ）with The Misuzu Children's Choral Group（みすず児童合唱団）but the video above apparently features a cover version with that same vocal group but instead of Misuzu, it's the Columbia Yurikago Kai（コロムビアゆりかご会）instead.
"TAC no Uta" was written by Kyoichi Azuma（東京一）and composed/arranged by Toru Fuyuki（冬木透）, the same duo behind the "Mirror Man"（ミラーマン）theme, and the song parallels the "Ultraman Ace" march in its progression with the opening grim trouble-is-brewing half before the major-chord winning latter half. Strangely enough, I think the "Avengers" theme may share some genes in that respect despite its decades-later creation.
My record with both the "Ultraman Ace" theme and "TAC no Uta" that my mother had bought back in 1972 may have been yet another more subdued cover since I don't really recollect hearing in my 45" Honey Knights' "wan dabadaba wan dabadaba" scatting which peppers the arrangement. Supposedly it was quite the thing for their scatting to populate a number of the tokusatsu themes they performed on, with the "Wan Daba" phenomenon even getting its own article on J-Wiki. I have to say that it does beef up the song quite a lot.
Although I mentioned about this song in the article for the theme for "Ultra Seven"（ウルトラセブン）, I thought it was time to give the theme song for the original "Ultraman"（ウルトラマン）its due. One reason is that when I first heard it, I thought it was quite different to the proud heroic marches that accompanied Ultraman's siblings, Ultra Seven and Ultraman Ace.
On hearing the Misuzu Children's Choral Group （みすず児童合唱団）sing the theme, I wondered if it was something that Ultraman would have twisted to. Yeah, there was something of a 60s go-go beat to it thanks to the guitar, although there was also the horn fanfare at the intro. While the other theme songs had that superhero feeling, "Ultraman no Uta"(The Song of Ultraman) felt more superspy than superhero....more James Bond or Napoleon Solo than Superman or Batman.
As with the show itself, the theme song came out in July 1966. Kunio Miyauchi （宮内國郎）came up with the music while Kyoichi Azuma （東京一）was responsible for the lyrics. Now, what I didn't write in the "Ultra Seven" article was that looking at that name, I knew it had to be a half-jokey pen name since it can also read as Tokyo Ichi (Tokyo One), and sure enough it was a pseudonym. The real name of the writer was none other than producer Hajime Tsuburaya （円谷一）who became the 2nd president of Tsuburaya Productions, the studio behind the "Ultraman" franchise. His father, Eiji, （円谷英二）was the founder and first president along with being a special effects director and one of the co-creators for "Godzilla".
The above video happens to be the English-language version of the theme when the show was aired Stateside. I was surprised to find out that "Ultraman" had actually been shown in America (no such luck here in The Great White North....at least not in what is now the GTA). My first exposure to one of Japan's greatest pop cultural heroes was right in Japan via Ultraman Jack and the aforementioned Ace. Of course, my brother and I being little bratty kids at the time, we were more than happy with the Ultra Guys and ended up with books and records from the franchise. Some years later, as a teacher on the JET Programme, I started giving my so-called in-house wisdom to one of the children of a colleague in the neighbouring village of Niiharu since he was starting to get into Ultraman himself. Man, maybe there were a few Ultramen to talk about but all those monsters.....sheesh!
While deviating a little bit from the topic of J-Pop/Kayokyoku music, I wanted to post this entry covering my favorite Tokusatsu TV Show theme songs from the 70s and 80s. These particular songs are not only very nostalgic but each hold a special place in my heart. Some of the songs/shows on this list may be familiar but others may be new to readers.
Yup, old guy fanboy coming through here again. My summer in Wakayama Prefecture in 1972 had my brother and I enjoying the pleasures of watching all sorts of tokusatsu kiddie programming. There was the "Kamen Rider" series, and then there was the "Ultraman" franchise. I mentioned that the theme that stood out amongst all those Ultramen opening songs was the march for "Ultra Seven", although we were never able to catch a single episode of the hero during our time there.
However, we did catch a lot of the Ultraman who was around in that year, namely Ultraman Ace, as he graced the tube on Friday evenings. Like his senpai, Ultra Seven, looked somewhat different from the originalUltraman. He had a somewhat more angular head and a bigger horn on top of it (compensating for some insecurity perhaps?). And the show was different in that for the majority of its run, it took two to tango. Namely, a truck driver by the name of Seiji and Yuko, a nurse (who, incidentally, was actually a resident of the Moon.....quite a commute, I hear) were needed to do the famed henshin to become Ace. I have to be honest....I did have my first crush on Yuko-chan.
My brother and I loved the show, so Mom bought us the original single for the "Ultraman Ace" theme song, which came with the full-length version. It also had the TV version which was extended by a short recorded excerpt of a typical adventure with TAC, the Special Forces unit dealing with kaiju invaders from outer space, and the inevitable arrival of Ace to save the day (and provide tons of jobs to structural engineers).
The theme, written by Kyoichi Azuma（東京一） and composed by Masahiko Aoi（葵まさひこ）, progressed like a typical episode. There were the opening minor-key verses signalling trouble ahead (kinda sounded like the theme from "The Tuesday Night Suspense Drama" with that string flourish) before the song goes heroic to welcome Ultraman Ace. As with the theme for "Ultra Seven",the Misuzu Children's Choral Group participated in this recording as well, along with Honey Knights, a male vocal group that specialized in commercials and anime themes.
Of course, I gotta have a scene with the Ace man in action.
And here is Ultraman Ace when he is not on 3-minute duty....as Yuko and Seiji. As for that single record....not sure where it is now, but I'm pretty confident it's still somewhere in the annals of my home.
The Ultraman Guidebook I got in 1981.
It just called out to me.
A few days ago, when I was typing up another entry for "Kayo Kyoku Plus", the foot under my desk kept leaning against something (my laptop is basically in a walk-in closet that used to be my old bedroom...such is life). Since it was restricting things a bit, I found out it was an old Canada Dry plastic bag containing a lot of old 45" singles of kayo kyoku that my parents had brought over from the old country. But one record in there was a special one for me....back in 1972, when I made my first trip to Japan ever with my brother and mother, my mother bought us a record that contained the theme songs for four of the big superheroes at the time: Kamen Rider, Mirror Man, Silver Kamen and Ultra Seven.
Now, during that hot summer in Osaka and Wakayama Prefecture, my brother and I did our share of butterfly chasing with nets and trying to avoid the huge snakes around the rice paddies of my grandpa's farm (although a scarab beetle managed to sneak into my underwear for several minutes...but that's another story). However, our big television memories there were watching the anime and the big superhero vs. monster shows, otherwise known as tokusatsu（特撮...literally, special filming). As kids growing up in Toronto, we used to watch "Monster Week" on the Buffalo NBC affiliate WGRZ (WGR back then) during their afternoon movies at 4 p.m., so Godzilla, Rodan and Mothra were big names at our place, and so the huge Japanese monster obsession we had was transferred with us to Japan. Now, at the time, the Ultraman series had long been in production before we got there ("Ultra Q" premiered in 1966), so the current Ultramen in 1972 were Ultraman Ace on its first run and his predecessor, Ultraman Jack, in the afternoons. We had a ball watching the good guys using their punches, kicks and laser beams on the monsters.
But the theme song we loved was for "Ultra Seven", the second of the Ultramen to grace Japanese small screens. And so, when we got back to Toronto, this song, plus the "Kamen Rider" theme song got heavy rotation on the RCA Victor. And apparently, it's THE theme song for the entire Ultraman franchise that everyone remembers to this day (although Mom also got the "Ultraman Ace" single for us....but as much as I like that one, too, it just doesn't quite have the presence).
"SEVEN.....SEVEN.....SEVEN!"
The original theme for "Ultraman" had that Group Sounds good times guitar vibe with its chorus, but the theme for "Ultra Seven" just screamed "Hero coming through!!!" There was the anthemic brass intro, followed by the three members of chorus group The Echoes sliding in "Seven" before they and the entire Misuzu Children's Chorus Group blasted "Seven" again in staccato notes before the burst of French horn, and then the triumphant lyrics written by Kyoichi Azuma（東京一） with Toru Fuyuki（冬木透） behind the notes. It's a theme that just stands up and out for an Ultraman that also stood out in his appearance and his battle tactics; I think his Ice Slugger is the coolest weapon that any of the warriors have had (yeah, I know I'm going a bit fanboy here). My brother and I were doing a fair bit of kicking and spinning around in the living room when that song was on, although we had never seen one episode of "Ultra Seven" in our time in Japan.
The above video doesn't have a great recording of the theme but it does show Ultra Seven doing what he does best.
And here is the live version of the theme being performed by a Tokyo orchestra with J-R&B singer Keizo Nakanishi（中西圭三） providing lead vocals, and the original composer, Fuyuki, as the conductor. Of course, Ultra Seven himself just had to be there. One interesting piece of trivia I got from YouTube and J-Wiki is one of the members of The Echoes happened to be Kiyohiko Ozaki（尾崎紀世彦） (he's the 3rd voice sliding in the "Seven") who would later find even bigger fame as the big-voiced singer behind the evergreen "Mata Au Hi Made".
Just for comparison, here is the original "Ultraman" theme.
Yup....the record...41 years old this summer.
Not too worse for wear.
