Kyozo Nishioka & Carib no Arashi/Ruriko Ohgami -- Mississippi River

Wikimedia Commons
via NPS photo

I've known about the Mississippi River since I was a toddler when I saw it used in a song in a cartoon. The spelling was killer for me for a while, though.

Several days ago, I received a contact from Alan who has been looking for the lyrics for the song "Mississippi River" by Ruriko Ohgami（大上留利子）. I'd never heard of the song before so I tried to search for those lyrics, but alas, I couldn't find them online. 

However, at an attempt at some redemption, I'm covering the song right here. Now, "Mississippi River" was originally recorded by the composer himself, Kyozo Nishioka（西岡恭蔵）with his band at the time, Carib no Arashi（カリブの嵐...Caribbean Storm） when they put out their January 1978 album "'77.9.9 Kyoto [Crucifixion]"（'77.9.9京都「磔磔」）. With lyrics by his beloved wife, KURO, "Mississippi River" is a playful mix of blues, funk and jazz centering around the New Orleans area, according to those lyrics. 

In the same year, Ohgami released her "Dreamer From West"（ドリーマー・フロム・ウエスト）sophomore album where she put out her cover of "Mississippi River" (which can be heard above at 19:15 in the above video). The same fun and sultry arrangement is there but with some added horn including a brassy saxophone doing a solo. I can imagine Ohgami being the owner and singer of some 1920s speakeasy as she's singing this.

Ruriko Ohgami -- Fuwari Fuwafuwa (ふわりふわふわ)

Earlier tonight, I talked about a singer in the early postwar era who had been dubbed The Queen of Swing. Well, I have found another chanteuse who was given the title of The Queen of Soul in Japan.

Ruriko Ohgami（大上留利子）is another discovery from YouTube. Born in Osaka, her roots started out in gospel music before she made the move to R&B although also according to her J-Wiki biography, Ohgami had created a folk song circle while in university in 1970.

She also joined a couple of bands before striking out on a solo career which began with her debut album in 1977 "Typhoon Lady". This song "Fuwari Fuwafuwa" (Gently Fluffy) was one of the tracks. Actually, I don't think the song itself is too fluffy. It's got a nice forward-facing soul beat with a touch of Latin thrown in there. I would say it's a very nice summery 1970s tune. The song was composed by Ohgami with Yumi Shimizu（清水由実）providing the lyrics.

Up to this point, she has released 5 albums and 4 singles. And in 1985, she started her own R&B vocal school.