Masarina -- Sekai de Ichiban Chikaku ni Ite（世界で1番近くにいて）

 

My previous article regarding the band The Alpha had me sheepishly noting that it had been three years between postings of that group. I have to do the same thing here regarding 80s aidoru Rina Takahashi（高橋利奈）. Back in the autumn of 2020, I said in the article for her "Juu-roku Sai no Gishiki"（16歳の儀式）that I would have to talk about her later tandem situation as one-half of the vocal duo Masarina soon.

Well, I guess soon means three years later. I was never exactly perfect on these promises. Anyways to make up for lost time, let me introduce Masarina which had Takahashi and Checkers' keyboardist and backup vocal Masaharu Tsuruku（鶴久政治）join forces for about a year in 1991 and 1992. The pair released a couple of singles and one album of which I have here their 2nd single "Sekai de Ichiban Chikaku ni Ite" (Be the Closest to Me in the World) which was released in February 1992.

Yep, it's a cornball title and from the arrangement of a bit of old Checkers' rock n' roll with a big dollop of Latin along with the delivery of Masarina, there's a certain tongue-in-cheek approach to the song. This was written by Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）and composed by Tsugutoshi Goto（後藤次利）, the same duo who was helping out in Ushirogami Hikaretai's（うしろ髪ひかれ隊）1988 "BAB" album which I posted about yesterday. I'd say that the song was designed just so for the karaoke lovers if a good duet was in order during the two hours at the bar.

Good heavens! They even had choreography! Anyways, "Sekai de Ichiban Chikau ni Ite" was also included on that Masarina album, "Masarina" from April 1992. Actually, the song was used as the ending theme for the late 1991 talk show including romance vignettes called "Kamakura Renai Iinkai"（鎌倉恋愛委員会...Kamakura Love Committee） hosted by Checkers' leader Fumiya Fujii（藤井郁弥）and Shibugaki-tai's（シブがき隊）Masahiro Motoki（本木雅弘）. 

Rina Takahashi -- Juu-roku Sai no Gishiki（16歳の儀式）

 

One of the NHK variety shows that I've cottoned onto in the last number of months is "Naming Variety -- Nihonjin no O-namae!"（ネーミングバラエティー 日本人のおなまえっ!...Japanese Names） hosted by veteran host Ichiro Furutachi（古舘伊知郎）. As I mentioned in a recent article, I've had a passing interest in the origins and nature of Japanese names and this program has been focusing on names through a variety of themes including history, professions and even music. That last topic was the theme for the most recent episode a few nights ago but it didn't just go into the names but also into the choice of titles of songs. The video below is the one for that very episode and I would take a quick gander at it before it probably gets taken down.

Along with a focus on Kenji Sawada's（沢田研二）"TOKIO" and Omega Tribe's "Kimi wa 1000%"（君は１０００％）, there was also a segment on Akina Nakamori's（中森明菜）"Shojo A"（少女Ａ）including an interview with longtime lyricist Masao Urino（売野政男）. I finally got to see what the fellow looks like now. Back then, as one of the panelists on "Naming Variety" remarked, Urino looked like a subversive during the university protests but he seems to look like a kindly old professor at his current age of 69.

One of the things that I've noticed about Urino and his songs is that although he's just responsible for the words, it seems as if those songs' arrangements have often reflected the rock n' roll of motorcycle-riding rebels and malcontents. "Shojo A" comes across this way and a lot of those early Checkers（チェッカーズ）tunes by Urino are quite similar.

And such is the case for the debut single by aidoru Rina Takahashi（高橋利奈）, "Juu-roku Sai no Gishiki" (Ritual at 16). It's got that combination of wailing electric guitar, dramatic strings and propulsive beat that adorned "Shojo A", and unsurprisingly, the same duo behind that Nakamori classic was also responsible for "Juu-roku Sai no Gishiki", lyricist Urino and composer Hiroaki Serizawa（芹澤廣明）. The lyrics, by the way, involve a love in which at least one-half of the relationship feels has to sadly cool down to prevent any unwanted complications.

Takahashi's first single was released in September 1985 and unfortunately there's no mention of how it did on the charts, but it probably did well enough because she was able to continue releasing singles and albums all the way to 1996. According to her J-Wiki profile, she made her debut at the same time as Miho Nakayama（中山美穂）, Yoko Minamino（南野陽子）and Minako Honda（本田美奈子）. Interestingly enough, Takahashi and Checkers' member Masaharu Tsuruku（鶴久政治）became a professional duo in 1991 and 1992 with Masarina（マサリナ）; I'll have to explore their discography soon.