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 Senri and Mari Unabara. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Senri and Mari Unabara. Show all posts
Well, the Osaka Expo is now fully underway. Back last week, I posted a Kaori Mizumori（水森かおり）enka in commemoration of the event, and earlier today, NHK's "Uta Con"（うたコン ）provided a song festival for Osaka in tribute as well. I realized then that I may not have put up a list of Osaka-based kayo kyoku on KKP as of yet, and checking some of the key files, I apparently have not done so. Therefore, without further ado, here are some of those songs, a few of which were featured on "Uta Con".
Thanks to this blog, I've not only been able to enjoy the various types of Japanese popular music of the current times and relatively recent times but also the kayo going back way before my birth. So I'm talking about a very young Hibari Misora（美空ひばり）, Ichiro Fujiyama（藤山一郎）, etc. Part of the reason that I've been able to enjoy and appreciate some of the Japanese music spanning back to even before World War II is that I had already been getting a taste of the old orchestra pop stuff as a child.
When I was a kid, I used to watch Charlie Chaplin, Laurel & Hardy and The Little Rascals all the time on television. "The Little Rascals" was regular afternoon fare for years so as I was watching the hijinks of Spanky, Alfalfa, Buckwheat, Porky and the rest of the bunch, I heard some of that music as the soundtrack. Once in a while, the gang even held their little concerts and performances on homemade stages.
What got me remembering my childhood days today was listening to this particular song "Dontonbori Koushinkyoku" (Dontonbori March), first recorded by singer and theatre director Ichiro Utsumi（内海一郎）. Released in December 1928, as the title signifies, it's a brisk and jaunty little march composed by Seihachi Shiojiri（塩尻精八）celebrating the activity of Dontonbori, one of the most famous areas of Osaka. Right now, it's known as one of the great foodie neighbourhoods within a metropolis that has been called the stomach of Japan but even way back then, Shigejiro Hibi's（日比繁次郎）lyrics note that Dontonbori was quite the place for happy carousing. Incidentally, Hibi may have been the pseudonym of novelist Koichi Hata（畑耕一）according to some YouTube comments and other webpages, but his J-Wiki article doesn't make that perfectly clear.
Utsumi was known as a singer of jazz songs but with "Dontonbori Koushinkyoku", I'm not quite sure if this original version of the song would be placed as such. It sounds like a kayo of that time or maybe it was even the equivalent of the sweet music that had been played by orchestras in the West as a counterbalance to the so-called sinful jazz.
According to the uploader for this video, the legendary Hachiro Kasuga（春日八郎）gave his own marching band take on "Dontonbori Koushinkyoku" in an album titled "Kasuga Hachiro no Taisho Showa Hayari Uta"（春日八郎の 大正昭和はやり唄...Hachiro Kasuga's Taisho and Showa Era Popular Songs） released in 1963.
Then in 1977, the Osakan sister act comedy duo Senri and Mari Unabara（海原千里・万里）released their own cover of "Dontonbori Koushinkyoku" as a single. This version is quite a lot of fun with a playful poke at "In the Mood" in the intro before going into some swinging Dixieland jazz. The sisters had another hit tribute to their hometown through "Osaka Rhapsody"（大阪ラプソディー）the previous year.
Having relatives in the Osaka region, I can vouch for the observation that many Japanese in other areas have made about the folks from that area. They can be very loud and boisterous...perfect for the most commerce-happy area in the country. The above video features the 70s comedic duoSenri and Mari Unabara（海原千里・万里）, a sister act nattering away in the Osaka dialect at warp speed. The younger Senri on the right was actually born as Emiko Kaminuma（上沼恵美子）, and although the duo broke up in that same decade, Kaminuma returned to the spotlight some time afterward under her real name and has remained as one of the most venerable tarento and forces of nature on TV.
One of the things that I hadn't known about the duo was that they actually sang a few songs publicly as well. Among the four singles that were released by Senri and Mari Unabara was "Osaka Rhapsody" that came out in February 1976. I heard this today being sung on "Nodo Jiman"（のど自慢）so I decided to write about it. I was surprised to hear that this was a song that came out in the mid-70s since the intro sounds like the jaunty beginning to a wartime tune. However, the melody by Kosho Inomata（猪俣公章）then quickly simmers down to what seems like a travelogue through traditional streets...shopping here, nibbling on a few goodies there.
The lyrics by Michio Yamagami（山上路夫）have two young lovers making a whirlwind tour around the famous spots of Osaka such as Dotombori and Midosuji. Methinks that knowing the gregarious Osakans, the lovers would be totally exhausted by the time their hosts finally let them go for the night. Still, the couple simply cannot deny the food. And I cannot deny that the sisters sound quite polished behind the mike as singers instead of mere comediennes.
"Osaka Rhapsody" was the one big hit for the Unabaras as it sold 400,000 records and ended up as the 95th-ranked single for 1976. I'm not sure what her sister is up to now but I'm sure the former Senri-turned-Emiko would be more than up to sing the song if asked.
