Shinichiro Hakozaki -- Atami no Yoru（熱海の夜）

 

Unfortunately, some of the recent news regarding the resort area of Atami west of Tokyo has dealt with the tragic mudslide its residents suffered almost a year ago. Hopefully, things have gotten better for everyone there over the past several months. I've never stayed in this city in Shizuoka Prefecture but bypassed it a few times when my friend and I went down to Ito to stay in the ryokan there. But my impression is that though it may not be a Monte Carlo, it's certainly a pretty well-to-do area for those on vacation with all of the onsen and other sightseeing spots.

Yesterday, I got to watch NHK's "Songs of Japanese Spirit" and the episode was heavy on the boozy and bluesy Mood Kayo which suits me just fine. One of the songs that I heard was "Atami no Yoru" (A Night in Atami) and it was the debut of the late Shinichiro Hakozaki（箱崎晋一郎）, released in January 1969. With that boss saxophone and the mournful strings to launch things, it's plenty of Mood Kayo. Also, what helps the mood is the characteristic falsetto tones by Hakozaki as he sings about an affair that has ended sadly in the titular city.

With Mood Kayo at its peak at the time and the fact that this was another song based in a famous city, "Atami no Yoru" became a hit for Hakozaki. It was written by Toshio Arakawa and Misa Fujimoto（荒川利夫・藤本美沙）, composed by Toshihiro Yamaoka（山岡俊弘）and arranged by Makoto Kawaguchi（川口真）. The J-Wiki file for Hakozaki mentions that there was a 1970s re-recording of the song which begins with an electric guitar instead. However, the one immediately below is the original 1969 version with the one above coming from an LP titled "Kikasete yo, Ai no Komori Uta"（きかせてよ愛の子守唄...Let Me Listen to the Lullabies of Love） from 1982.

Shinichiro Hakozaki -- Blue Night In Sapporo（ブルーナイト・イン札幌）

Haven't done a Mood Kayo in a while so I decided that I would finish off with one tonight. I realize that it's probable that the more popular nights for karaoke are Friday and Saturday, but I've wondered whether Sunday wouldn't be a good evening as well. After all, the next day is back to the grindstone, and it may be a good hobby to get rid of that pre-Monday stress by getting a few songs out of one's system. Not sure if everyone is more content to stay at home on Sunday night anymore.

Well, as the Mood Kayo tonight, I'm going with "Blue Night In Sapporo", a suitably melancholy ballad about lost love in one of the major cities in the northernmost prefecture. Sung by the late Shinichiro Hakozaki（箱崎晋一朗）, this May 1979 release is notable for being quite short (a little over two minutes and thirty seconds) and for Hakozaki's high mournful tones.

Written and composed by Domei Suzuki（鈴木道明）, I also chose this particular tribute to the north country because according to NHK reports and my own student last night, Sapporo may truly be singing the blues right now, due to a large lack of snow. Apparently, it's been quite a few decades since there has been such a dearth in the white stuff, and the SDF has been dispatched to truck in snow from other parts of Hokkaido. This is quite important since the annual Snow Festival is just around the corner, and of course, the ski resorts depend their livelihood on snow. So, hopefully things will improve in the next few weeks.

Shiro Saijo/Shinichiro Hakozaki -- Yoru no Gingitsune（夜の銀狐）

I've heard the various versions a few times now and I always get that urge to order something on the rocks (most likely for me it will be a Brown Cow).

Most of the article will deal with a couple of Mood Kayo singers that I had not heard of before. But with "Yoru no Gingitsune" (Silver Fox of the Night), the sound is so romantically Mood Kayo on the Latin side of things that I was slightly surprised that it was actually a solo singer instead of the usual quartet or quintet of the genre that got the ball rolling on this ballad.

There's barely anything on singer Shiro Saijo（斉条史朗）aside from the fact that his "Yoru no Gingitsune" which is the original version became a huge hit for him when it was released in 1969. I had to dig deep into the search engines but all I could find was one Japanese blog entry about the song in which the author indicated that Saijo had been a nightclub singer in his early 20s when this ballad came out so he would most likely be in his early 70s by now.

The above video has Saijo singing on some TV show and it's the perfect setting with him in his tuxedo while the orchestra is playing that Latin-spiced song and the white lacy curtains behind him. Daisaburo Nakayama（中山大三郎）wrote the lyrics of a woman pining for what I am assuming is a grey-haired Lothario while Hiroyuki Nakagawa（中川博之）came up with the sweeping melody.

At least, there is a J-Wiki entry for the late Shinichiro Hakozaki（箱崎晋一朗）who sadly passed away at the young age of 43 from liver cancer in 1988. The native from Iwate Prefecture made his debut in 1969 with the hit "Atami no Yoru"（熱海の夜...A Night in Atami）, and he became notable for his falsetto. Unfortunately, aside from perhaps one other song in his repertoire, he never really became a household name in music. His cover of "Yoru no Gingitsune" came out on a 1980 LP titled "Onnagokoro wo Utaimasu"（女心を歌います...Singing of the Woman's Heart） with the arrangement including that French accordion, another Mood Kayo instrumental trope. I guess that that particular instrument had its heyday in the 70s and 80s perhaps.

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Although I couldn't find out whether or when the Mood Kayo group Los Indios（ロス・インディオス）had officially recorded "Yoru no Gingitsune", they nonetheless covered it on stage. The above has them and Alicia who was their 7th female vocalist. I'm pretty sure that the other Mood Kayo units have probably given their tribute to the 1969 tune since it seems tailored made for them.