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 Sumiko Toyohiro. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sumiko Toyohiro. Show all posts
It's just two days shy a year since I put up the last Sumiko Toyohiro（豊広純子）song up on KKP. "Namida ga Kawaku made"（涙がかわくまで）is an elegant City Pop tune from her 1983 album"Water Heart", and as I finished up that article that day, I'll begin this one with the same sentiment: "Water Heart" can make for a fine addition to any City Pop fan's shelf.
Another reason is the second track "Ai wa Mellow Yellow"(Love is Mellow Yellow). Not sure how the title works but the song itself does as a fun and relaxing J-AOR drive down the highway. The lyrics were written by Akira Ohtsu（大津あきら）and Kisaburo Suzuki's（鈴木キサブロー）melody fairly soars over the pavement by the seashore. That electric guitar solo sounds like something that Suzuki would whip up. "Ai wa Mellow Yellow" was also released as a Toyohiro single in the same year.
I've already spoken of obscure City Pop artist Sumiko Toyohiro（豊広純子）twice on "Kayo Kyoku Plus": once for her torch song single "Tawamure no Koi no Mama ni"（たわむれの恋のままに）and then the classy "Night Flight".
Both songs also ended up on Toyohiro's lone album"Water Heart" from 1983, and this new addition to her file actually starts off the album. As with "Night Flight", "Namida ga Kawaku made" (Until the Tears Dry) takes things even further into Keiko Maruyama's（丸山圭子）romantic bossa nova realm, and I think Maruyama herself could cover this one. Written by Goro Matsui（松井五郎）and composed by Toyohiro, the silky strings by themselves are able to transport listeners to far warmer and more comfortable climes.
Commenter Mike, who gave me the tip on Toyohiro in the first place, has certainly opened up my eyes on "Water Heart" as an album which should be a welcome addition on any Japanese City Pop fan's shelves.
Back in late 2018, I wrote about a songstress by the name of Sumiko Toyohiro（豊広純子）who belted one heck of a torch song "Tawamure no Koi no Mama ni"（たわむれの恋のままに）in 1982 in the style of Junko Ohashi（大橋純子）. The ballad would also be covered by aidoru Yoshie Kashiwabara（柏原芳恵）. Commenter Mike down at the bottom of that article recommended Toyohiro's one-and-only album"Water Heart" from 1983 as something of a must-have for the discerning City Pop fan.
Well, I'm already really liking one track from "Water Heart". Toyohiro's"Night Flight" not only has the cool title working for it, but also that melody by Kingo Hamada（濱田金吾）indeed has my mouth watering for the City Pop goodness. Kazuko Kobayashi（小林和子）is behind the lyrics for this tune which possesses some fine silky sophistication deserving of a tumbler of brandy on the rocks.
If Toyohiro's delivery of "Tawamure no Koi no Mama ni" can be compared with the vocals of Ohashi, then I can posit that "Night Flight" is perhaps a bit closer to the song stylings of Keiko Maruyama（丸山圭子）. Those strings and lone trumpet do that for me. Happily, if this tune has captured your fancy, then you can give the entire album a spin since that is now up on YouTube.
Commenter Mike gave me a tip back in April this year via my article on Yoshie Kashiwabara's（柏原芳恵）21st single"Saiai"（最愛）about this obscure singer named Sumiko Toyohiro（豊広純子）and her December 1982 single, "Tawamure no Koi no Mama ni"(Tumbling Head Over Heels). Toyohiro provided the lyrics and later, Yoshie-chan would cover it herself in the album "Saiai" in 1984. Tatsushi Umegaki（梅垣達志）came up with the melody.
Well, it's here now...and please...let it be here for a good long while. "Tawamure no Koi no Mama ni" is a sizzling torch song (perhaps approaching Level: Acetylene) that can belong to the classy night bar side of City Pop. Kimihiko Shiraishi（白石公彦）composed the shibui melody which should be served with a tumbler of the bar's very best scotch. Perhaps it can even be considered to be a representative of Fashion Music. According to one Japanese blog, "Tawamure" was created as an entry for the 13th Annual World Popular Song Festival sponsored by the Yamaha Music Foundation in 1982.
Along with the shibui aspect that I like in the ballad, I also enjoy Toyohiro's voice since it reminds me a lot of the fine vocals of Junko Ohashi（大橋純子）. I can easily imagine Ohashi covering this one as well. Since Kashiwabara covered it, I also have to mention one other interesting aspect. At first, from listening to "Tawamure", the refrain had me thinking that this was the original version of a completely different Yoshie song since the refrain in that one sounds quite similar. In fact, the song that I had been thinking about was "Shinobi Ai"（し・の・び・愛）, actually created by a different singer-songwriter which I will have to write about very soon.
As for Toyohiro herself, aside from the blog that I mentioned in the last paragraph and what Mike had told me, I have yet to find anything else substantial about the singer-songwriter herself. She did release one album "Water Heart", but methinks that this is one album that would be a lost treasure to track down.
