Natsuko Godai -- Shinobu Ame（忍ぶ雨）

 

Well, after a hiatus of about three weeks, NHK's "Uta Con"（うたコン）will be coming back to television, and for me, it's the prime source of any enka that I can get on TV Japan.

Enka singer Natsuko Godai（伍代夏子）won't be on this episode according to the NHK schedule, but I think it would be nice to have her come back here at least. It's been a while. Here is her 3rd single "Shinobu Ame" (Enduring Rain) from May 1990. A story of enjoying some sake while the precipitation is coming down hard outside. I'm unsure whether "Shinobu Ame" had been used in a sake commercial, but perhaps it should have been. It certainly feels as comforting as sipping from an ochoko of the stuff. Eiji Takino（たきのえいじ）was the man behind the lyrics while the reassuring melody was provided by Shosuke Ichikawa（市川昭介）.

"Shinobu Ame" hit No. 12 on Oricon and spent a whole year on the Top 100, selling over 420,000 copies. It became Godai's biggest hit which had her invited to the 1990 edition of NHK's Kohaku Utagassen for the first time, and then Godai returned once more in 2009 to perform the song once more. In total, she has come onto the network's New Year Eve special a total of 22 times with her 2015 appearance being her last one to date. For the yearly Oricon rankings, the song came in at No. 68 and then in 1991, it even went up several ranks to No. 56.

Hibari Misora -- Omae ni Horeta （おまえに惚れた）

Caught NHK's "Nodo Jiman"（のど自慢）earlier this afternoon and it looks like that bell ringer was in a pretty snotty mood. I don't think he gave the full ring of approval until almost halfway through the show, and it turned out to be for an elderly lady singing an old Hibari Misora（美空ひばり）chestnut.

It was indeed a fine rendition so I decided to look up this song "Omae ni Horeta" (I've Fallen For You) and was surprised to find out that it was created for the Grande Dame of Kayo Kyoku in 1980. Although I know that Misora sang right to the end of her days at the end of the 1980s, my impression was that most of her classic enka songs were from the 1960s. But this particular song has that certain grandness of some of those old hits such as "Yawara"（柔）and the male point of view but with the topic this time being the simple reaction of falling in love.

However, along with the grandeur, I also noticed an underlayer of gentleness in "Omae ni Horeta" as if the protagonist here wasn't exactly the youngest buck in the forest but an older and more courteous sort who's fallen in love with a lady who may be the proprietress of the local nomiya. There's not so much hormonally-fueled lust in the guy's eyes than there is a wistful interest in the lass.

Released in February 1980, the ballad was written by Takashi Taka（たかたかし）and composed by Koji Tokuhisa（徳久広司）who had tried his hand at singing for about a year in the mid-1970s before deciding making songs was more his forte. "Omae ni Horeta" ranked up there at No. 43 on Oricon.

I guess it has been that mixture of gusto and gentility that has made the song a favourite for enka singers since Misora's original version. Aya Shimazu（島津亜矢）has given it a fine go.

And so has Natsuko Godai（伍代夏子）. I've also enjoyed the various versions for the fact that the singers have been given the chance to plumb the lower registers of their voices.

Natsuko Godai -- Hitori Zake （ひとり酒）

I've seen enka singer Natsuko Godai（伍代夏子）numerous times over the years on shows like NHK's "Kayo Concert", and I saw her today on the national broadcaster's regular half-hour documentary in which a famed singer heads over to one of the small communities in the quake-stricken Tohoku area to provide a concert for the citizens over there. The Tokyo-born singer trilled a final song which sounded quite familiar to me for some reason. It was "Hitori Zake" (Drinking for One), and the reason that it rang a musical deja vu was that it was the song that she had performed at last week's Kohaku Utagassen.

Godai was born as Terumi Nakagawa（中川輝美）in 1961, and she had actually debuted in 1982 under the stage name of Hiromi Hoshi（星ひろみ）which was switched to Yuuki Kagawa（加川有希）a few years later before changing for a very brief period to her real name and then settling on her current name in 1987 with her official debut of "Modori Gawa"（戻り川...The Returning River）. "Hitori Zake" was her 7th single released in January 1994, and was composed by Hideo Mizumori（水森英夫）and written by Takashi Taka（たかたかし）.

Despite the cheerful visage that Godai beams out at the audience and the happy uptempo nature, it seems that the lyrics express a lonely woman pouring herself the drinks at the local watering hole while remembering happier times with that significant other. It's not just the male customers who are crying into their sake.

(karaoke version)

Unfortunately I haven't been able to find the stats about how well "Hitori Zake" did on Oricon, but I know that it didn't place on the Top 100 for 1994. However, Godai herself has appeared on the Kohaku a total of 21 times including one stint lasting from 1990 to 2001, and then from 2006 to 2014. She has also performed "Hitori Zake" three times on the New Year's Eve special including her appearance last year.

Incidentally, her husband happens to be actor/singer Ryotaro Sugi（杉良太郎）.