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 Sayuri Yoshinaga. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sayuri Yoshinaga. Show all posts
The above video shows a variety of entrance ceremonies for the new recruits at various companies throughout Japan, including All Nippon Airways at 1:55. Yes, it is April and so the corporate entities are throwing out the red carpet and all of the rigamarole to welcome the fresh newbies
I was watching the NHK morning news earlier tonight and there was a feature on the ceremonies, and the reporters did an interesting thing by showing the evolution of the corporate entrance ceremony throughout the decades from the 1960s to the 1990s, and for each decade, they put up a representative pop song. Just out of my sense of whimsy, I'm going to put these up here, too.
(1960s) Yukio Hashi and Sayuri Yoshinaga -- Itsudemo Yume wo（いつでも夢を）
(1970s) Koichi Morita and The Top Gallants -- Seishun Jidai （青春時代）
Now, the above were selected by NHK so they wouldn't come under Author's Picks. That label is for us KKP writers. However, I am throwing in my lone choice for an inspiring song to help encourage the new workers.
(1990s) Daiji Man Brothers Band -- Sore ga Daiji （それが大事）
One of the earlier posts on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" was for the classic kayo "Itsudemo Yume wo"（いつでも夢を）by entertainers Yukio Hashi（橋幸夫）and Sayuri Yoshinaga（吉永小百合）, a huge hit that also reached my ears early in life.
Well, that was all back in September 1962. But I'm sure that everyone involved was thinking about whether lightning could strike twice with Hashi and Yoshinaga. Sure enough, going into 1963, the songwriters for "Itsudemo Yume wo", lyricist Takao Saeki（佐伯孝夫）and composer Tadashi Yoshida（吉田正）, went to work and created "Wakai Tokyo no Yane no Shita"(Under the Roof of Young Tokyo) for recording and release in April of that year.
Not surprisingly, "Wakai Tokyo no Yane no Shita" was another big hit, officially known as Hashi's 34th single, as it sold a million records. It continues the same sort of happy-go-lucky beat from "Itsudemo Yume wo" as youth enjoy life in an emerging and vibrant Tokyo. A few months later, a movie was concocted based on the song. Yoshinaga starred in it and Hashi was supposed to have been in the film as well, but an incident involving him and others had landed the singer in hospital and so he wasn't able to fulfill the role which was then taken over by actor Mitsuo Hamada（浜田光夫）.
As I mentioned a few minutes ago, I'd caught "Top Gun: Maverick" at the theatre yesterday with a buddy so I figured that I simply had to cover the famous anthem from that movie. However, my original intention with this week's Reminiscings of Youth was to cover an even more famous theme from the movies. In fact, I'd say that this theme will go down as one of the most famous songs in moviedom.
I do this because British composer Monty Norman passed away on July 11th a few days ago at the age of 94. For all that he's created over the decades, I can say that his most recognizable creation with John Barry's arrangement is the theme song for James Bond, MI6 Agent 007.
The James Bond theme made its debut with the debut of the James Bond movie franchise in 1962 with "Dr. No". A few years before my birth, so I missed out on catching the very first 007 flick at the theatres. Therefore, it was through the TV reruns on ABC's Sunday night movies where I caught Sean Connery as Bond. That scene above where he uttered the coolest introduction of a character's name (Bond...James Bond) is still amazing even after 60 years. The man was so charismatic that he apparently emitted the theme song along with his cologne whenever he took a walk.
Just like the fact that I've always considered the first movie incarnation of Bond via Sir Sean to be my favourite, I've always preferred the very first rendition of the James Bond theme through "Dr. No.". Neither shaken nor stirred but very steady and controlled until it's time to be unleashed.
One reason that I like the original version of the Bond song so much is that distinct twangy guitar riff provided by studio guitarist Victor Flick on his 1939 English Clifford Essex Paragon Deluxe via a Fender Vibrolux amplifier according to the Wikipedia article on the theme. That riff seems to describe the character of Bond himself stalking his prey within that mysterious atmosphere jazzily provided by Barry and his orchestra. When the horns suddenly explode, that's when the fun and bullets and fisticuffs begin.
I remember seeing bits and parts of the early Bond movies with Connery such as "Thunderball" and "You Only Live Twice" on the telly, but it wasn't until I finally saw the gun barrel sequence and the subsequent opening credits for "Dr. No" that I finally got the theme in its full glory and realized who and what James Bond represented. It's like that old saying "You always remember your first".
So, while 007 was doing his romancing and killing for queen and country, which kayo were winning prizes in Japan in that year of 1962? Let's take a look at the Japan Record Awards.
Grand Prize -- Yukio Hashi and Sayuri Yoshinaga -- Itsudemo Yume wo （いつでも夢を）
I caught this being performed by a married couple on today's episode of "Nodo Jiman"（のど自慢）which took place this week in Okinawa. Good to see that the show is still active out there, by the way.
This article is for the Sayurists since we've got actress Sayuri Yoshinaga（吉永小百合）paired up with singer Akira Mita（三田明）for the jaunty and hopeful "Asu wa Sakou Hana Sakou" (Let Tomorrow Blossom, Let The Flowers Blossom), a single that was released back in April 1965. Yoshinaga is no stranger to duets especially since she performed one of the most famous kayo of them all with Yukio Hashi（橋幸夫）, "Itsudemo Yume wo"（いつでも夢を）back in 1962.
(karaoke version)
Not surprisingly, this was another hit for Yoshinaga, and true to form for the connection between music and cinema back then, "Asu wa Sakou Hana Sakou" got to become a movie released later in August under the same title starring Yoshinaga as a health worker assigned to a backwater village outside of Tokyo that is in desperate need of help of any kind due to the rampant poverty. I've not seen the movie, but with a title song this genki, I think it's pretty much a given that the village gets at least somewhat better by the end. Mita himself even shows up in one scene as a popular entertainer with the same name who just happens to be from that very village. Hmm...guess which song he sings with Yoshinaga? By the way, the above video has Mita's performance with singer Midori Oka（丘みどり）.
The lyrics were provided by Sou Nishizawa（西沢爽）while the melody was composed by Tadashi Yoshida（吉田正）, the same person behind "Itsudemo Yume wo".
Apologies for throwing in another Reminiscings of Youth article so soon after the last one but on hearing about actor Ed Asner's death earlier today, I just had to include this one. Many folks might recently remember the Kansas City-born TV and movie star from the 2009 Pixar-produced computer animated film "Up" where he played the main character of Carl Fredricksen. However for people of my generation, I will always remember Asner as crusty but lovable news director Lou Grant from "The Mary Tyler Moore Show". Can hardly believe that the show first started almost 51 years ago.
With the announcement of Asner's passing, I've only just realized that almost all of the stars from that famous 1970s sitcom, including Mary Tyler Moore, Gavin MacLeod and Ted Knight are now gone. I think actress Betty White is the only actor from that show who is still here. From what I've gathered over the years since its run between 1970 and 1977 and beyond is that "The Mary Tyler Moore Show", which was about Mary Richards and her personal/professional life involving her work buddies at WJM-TV in Minneapolis, Minnesota, could also have been originating network CBS' first attempt to break out of its reputation of being the farm comedy network since many of its successful sitcoms in the 1960s were based on characters who came from the countryside such as "Green Acres" and "The Beverly Hillbillies".
Even as a kid, I remembered "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" right from its first season since Mary herself had such long hair. The very first time I ever saw the actress was when she was playing Laura Petrie on the black-and-white "The Dick Van Dyke Show", another beloved sitcom from the 1960s, so there was some confusion about her new hairdo and the fact that I was seeing her in colour. And for that matter, where was Dick?
I also remember seeing episodes from time to time in its initial run right from Season 1 along with the tropes of Mary's first apartment, the camaraderie among her and the WJM staff, and the appearance of the cute kitten at the end of the ending credits for each episode. But for me, I think it was in the latter half of the show's 7-year run when I was laughing my guts out at a lot of the episodes including the one that is represented at the very top of the article, "Chuckles Bites the Dust", when the local TV clown is killed in a hilarious accident. It's been voted as one of the top episodes of all time for all American television and it has even merited its own Wikipedia entry.
Yes, I still remember that this is a music blog, and a Japanese one at that, but bear with me. The show was that memorable for me. Besides, it's not the first time that I've given a TV theme song the ROY treatment (see "WKRP in Cincinnati" and "The Odd Couple").
Another thing that I wax nostalgic over when it comes to "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" is the theme song. There have been a number of variations of Sonny Curtis' "Love is All Around" played over the seven seasons, but I will always choose the original version from Season 1 as my favourite take. Created by Patrick Williams, the original is cool and swinging like a Burt Bacharach song (especially with the more pronounced horns), and even the instrumental version of "Love is All Around" used for the ending credits is also my favourite among the variations used during the show's run.
Well, I can perhaps say that almost all of the WJM staff have gotten together once more in a new and better place with love all around. In any case, since the show premiered in September 1970, what were some of the singles that came out around that time? Two of them are actually re-releases from the early 1960s while the other one is once again showing a discrepancy in terms of release month with Showa Pops.
Ahhh...to be young, footloose and fancy-free in early 1960s Japan as the nation was coming out from the shadow of the early postwar years. Not quite certain who the really popular actresses in Hollywood were at around the same time: were they Shirley MacLaine and Audrey Hepburn? I think I may have a slightly stronger handle when it comes to the Japanese equivalent...Sayuri Yoshinaga（吉永小百合）.
Of course, Yoshinaga has been represented on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" for a long while. One of the first songs that I put up on the blog in that first year of existence was "Itsudemo Yume wo"（いつでも夢を）, her 1962 duet with Yukio Hashi（橋幸夫）that has become a kayo classic and a song that I heard early in my life.
Well, the B-side of that single was "Asu no Hanayome"(Tomorrow's Bride), this time only performed by Yoshinaga. Written and composed by the same duo behind "Itsudemo Yume wo", lyricist Takao Saeki（佐伯孝夫）and composer Tadashi Yoshida（吉田正）, this was the theme song for a 1962 Yoshinaga movie of the same name regarding a young woman born and raised on Shodo Island (just off of Kagawa Prefecture) but starting a new life as a student at a university in Kobe on the mainland. Of course, from what I've seen in the above video, she encounters all sorts of ups and downs including those of the romantic variety, everything to sate a Sayurist.
Not surprisingly, "Asu no Hanayome" has a similar sound to the much more famous "Itsudemo Yume wo" but it comes across as a sleepier and more contented ballad.
While I'm keeping my ears attuned to the election results tonight, I'm going with something completely different and writing an article about an old chestnut.
Can't quite remember how I found about this particular song by singer/actress Sayuri Yoshinaga（吉永小百合）. Maybe it was through a recent episode of NHK's "Uta Kon"（うたコン）or perhaps I decided that I haven't seen the darling of Japanese cinema from the early postwar period in some time so I did some searching about. In any case, I found this slightly bittersweet-sounding kayo tune in Yoshinaga's discography.
"Seto no Uzushio" (The Whirling Tides of Seto) is the theme song from her 1964 Nikkatsumovie "Uzushio"（うず潮）which was based on an NHK morning serial drama that had been broadcast that same year, according to J-Wiki. The story is about Yoshinaga's character, Fumiko, and her life as a student at Onomichi Girls' High School in Hiroshima Prefecture. Along with the grand orchestra including the horns accompanying the sweet voice of Yoshinaga, there is even an organ representing those whirling tides.
The song was created by lyricist Takao Saeki（佐伯孝夫）and composer Tadashi Yoshida（吉田正）, the same duo behind one of the most evergreen kayo to my ears, "Itsudemo Yume wo"（いつでも夢を）which had been recorded as a duet in 1962 by Yoshinaga and enka singer Yukio Hashi（橋幸夫）. From what I could glean from Saeki's lyrics, it seems like Fumiko may be leaving her beloved hometown and heading to colder climes.
There's nothing like a music blog to find some refuge from the mania of a deciding Game 5 between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Texas Rangers...especially when it's a real nailbiter. I've never been a huge baseball fan although I support the good ol' Jays but when things are this tense and when I consider myself something of a jinx when it comes to these playoff games no matter what the sport, I prefer the solace of my room and the television on a totally different station.
Now that I'm done with that preface, in the last few days, I've been doing my usual translation work and I finished off about a scenic spot in Shizuoka Prefecture known as the Old Amagi Tunnel. One of the things I discovered about the place was that it was the setting for a Yasunari Kawabata（川端康成）short story known as "Izu no Odoriko"(The Izu Dancer). I've had to do my fair share of required reading back in my undergrad days as a Japanese Studies major and one of the authors was Kawabata although "The Izu Dancer" wasn't on the list. The brief summary of the story goes that a young high school student meets a small group of traveling performers a number of times while they tour the Izu Peninsula and falls for the youngest dancer.
When it comes to novels written by some of the big guns in Japan such as Kawabata, Soseki Natsume and Yukio Mishima, I figured it was just a matter of time before they were brought to the small or big screen. And sure enough, I found out on J-Wikipedia that "Izu no Odoriko" has gone both ways; in fact, there have been 6 movie versions of the novel between 1933 and 1974. Version 4 was released in 1963, and starred the lovely Sayuri Yoshinaga（吉永小百合）in the title role.
Another thing I figured with cinematized versions was that there would probably be some theme song provided. Once again, I hit the jackpot. Yoshinaga herself sung the title song, also known as "Izu no Odoriko". I've only got two other articles with her and even J-Wiki hasn't really listed any of her musical output although I realize that she has always been known as an actress first. Still, I think she has a fine voice and she did a fine job with this particular song which is basically a relating of the story from her character Kaoru's point of view. The ballad was created by the veteran team of Tadashi Yoshida and Takao Saeki（吉田正・佐伯孝夫）.
The final movie version came out in 1974 under the same title. This time, it featured the young Momoe Yamaguchi（山口百恵）in what was her first starring role in a motion picture as the dancer Kaoru. And as with Yoshinaga 11 years earlier, she was also responsible for the theme song which seems to cover the same story. But unlike the enka melody of the 1963 theme song, the 1974 version was not a cover but a new song with a kayo arrangement of sad innocence that fit the early years of Yamaguchi, not surprising since it was created by Kazuya Senke and Shunichi Tokura（千家和也・都倉俊一）who had made most of her early singles. Her "Izu no Odoriko" was the B-side to her 7th single released in December 1974, "Fuyu no Iro"（冬の色...The Colour of Winter）which, incidentally, was her first No. 1 hit song.
As I finish this off, the Blue Jays have just won their division series. There is joy in Toronto tonight and I even decided to watch the final out of the game.
Well, I'm glad that NHK's "Kayo Concert"（歌謡コンサート）is back on after a pretty lengthy Holiday hiatus. I appreciated some of those New Year's specials but unfortunately TV Japan doesn't really make it a habit to show many of them. It's nice to see and hear some of that old-fashioned kayo kyoku again after what seemed to be a month.
A lot of the songs were ones that I have heard (and written about on the blog) before, but then Kaoru Mizumori（水森かおり）sang a lovely ballad that I hadn't experienced, "Samui Asa"(Cold Morning). Then I found out who the original singer was.
Way before there were Amurers (Namie Amuro fans) in the 90s (and for that matter, some years before Trekkies arose from the university campuses in the 70s), there were the Sayurists...the ever-loyal fans in love with actress Sayuri Yoshinaga（吉永小百合）. I first read about the phenomenon in "The Encyclopedia of Japanese Pop Culture" by journalist/film critic Mark Schilling, and to be honest, if I had been born a couple of decades earlier and born and raised in Japan instead of Canada, it's pretty likely I would have ended up a Sayurist as well.
I've always seen the very-much-still-active Yoshinaga (she just starred in "Fushigi na Misaki no Monogatari" last year) as an actress but she did perform that evergreen duet with Yukio Hashi（橋幸夫）,"Itsudemo Yume wo"（いつでも夢を）in September 1962. However, some months earlier, she made her debut as a songbird with that tune that Mizumori had performed a couple of nights ago. "Samui Asa" was written by Takao Saeki（佐伯孝夫）and composed by Tadashi Yoshida（吉田正）, the same duo behind "Itsudemo Yume wo", as a duet for both Yoshinaga and Mood Kayo band Hiroshi Wada & Mahina Stars（和田弘とマヒナスターズ）for release in April of that year.
The song was used as the theme for a seishun eiga starring Yoshinaga and actor Mitsuo Hamada（浜田光夫）, "Akai Tsubomi to Shiroi Hana"（赤い蕾と白い花...Red Buds and White Flowers）, and looking at the video at the very top of the article gave me an intangible sense of sepia along with the green and blue that shone as "Samui Asa" was playing. Yoshinaga and Mahina Stars related that although the cold north winds may chill the early hours of the day, the love between two people would keep them toasty. The natsukashii melody reminded me of some of the tunes that actors Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald had performed as one of the premier musical pairs a few decades previously back in Hollywood.
I can only imagine how excited the fans must have been when it was announced that their heroine would be releasing her first single. Yoshinaga already had about 29 movies under her belt since her film debut in 1959, so had plenty of exposure to the public by the time that "Akai Tsubomi to Shiroi Hana". After the release of "Samui Asa", the single managed to sell 200,000 records and get the actress her debut on the Kohaku Utagassen that year.
Composer Yoshida was originally from Hitachi City in Ibaraki Prefecture. And as a tribute to him, since October 2005, Hitachi Station on the JR Tokiwa Line has used a part of the song as the warning chime on the platform for trains heading away from Tokyo.
One of the most evergreen of evergreen kayo kyoku, "Itsudemo Yume wo"(Always a Dream) probably still gets requests at even the most modern of karaoke boxes. And it's guaranteed that it will pop up on a music retrospective of the Showa Era. I've been hearing this song since I was in diapers. I can name that tune within the first three notes.
Composed by the late Tadashi Yoshida（吉田正）and written by Takao Saeki（佐伯孝夫） in 1962, it's a cheerful song of longing for a young girl who sings "....more secretly than the stars, more softly than the rain." It's been covered by duos of singers over the decades but the very first pairing was singer Yukio Hashi（橋幸夫） and actress Sayuri Yoshinaga（吉永小百合）. Although the song did a lot of the heavy lifting to reach its fame, the pairing of the most popular actress of that time and one-third of the Gosanke (御三家....The Big Three.....the two other big singers in the 60s being Kazuo Funaki and Teruhiko Saigo) certainly didn't hurt things. The Oricon rankings hadn't been invented at that time, but it won a Japan Record Award and sold over 300,000 records.
This is a well-preserved video of Hashi and Yoshinaga performing the song on stage. Watching this for the first time, it reminded me of how an RKO music program must've gone back in the 30s and 40s. And the arrangements for the song also hinted at some of the sweet dance music that had been popular during America's Jazz Age.
