Susan -- Ah! Soka

 

Neither having watched a lot of the animated or CG representative programming for the "Star Wars" franchise over the past few decades nor caught "Ahsoka" on Disney+ (aside from what I've glimpsed through YouTube) since I'm not subscribed to the service, I've only had glimpses of the Jedi Knight Ahsoka Tano. 

From what I know of the character, she was Anakin Skywalker's Padawan learner until he had that drastic change of faith but apparently the lady has been able to hold her own for a while...at the very least, to be able to get her own TV show. Remembering how George Lucas loved to lift aspects of Japanese culture to adapt into his beloved "Star Wars", I had naively assumed that he got the name for Ahsoka from the common expression "Ah, soka"（あ、そうか。）meaning "Oh, is that so?". As it turns out, Lucas adapted the name from that of the ancient Indian emperor Ashoka.

Today's preamble ramble was brought to you by singer Susan and her tune "Ah! Soka". I'd introduced the lass back in early December last year because of her "My Love" which was the final track on her 2nd album "The Girl Can't Help It" in 1981. "Ah! Soka" was actually the B-side to her July 1981 single "Do You Believe in Magic?"  (a Susan album with the same title was released in 1980).

Written by Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）and composed by Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）, both fellows from the legendary Yellow Magic Orchestra, "Ah! Soka" is a bit more languid if also a little more playful through the singer than "My Love". It's got the techno in there for sure but the synths also share space and time and energy with some twangy guitars. Ah, yeah...those early 1980s! 

Susan -- My Love

 

It's an amazing thing about realizing that the huge iceberg representing Japanese popular music not only has a ton of City Pop in the 90% underneath the surface but also a lot of techno kayo. Those guys in Yellow Magic Orchestra really were quite influential.

Case in point: Susan（スーザン）. Her full name is Susan Nozaki, a half-Japanese and half-French singer, actress and TV personality. I only found out about her last night but it seems during the midst of her time on television going into the 1980s, she had a chance encounter with YMO drummer Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）at a TV studio in 1980 which translated into another opportunity for music (apparently earlier in the 1970s, Susan had been a singer and from the description in her website profile, it looks like it may have been as an aidoru).

A debut album would come out titled "Do You Believe in Magic?" which featured all three members of YMO: Takahashi, Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）and Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）among other artists. And then there was the second album "The Girl Can't Help It" in 1981 whose material swung from Motown to New Wave. The final track is the technopop "My Love" with some mightily crashing percussion which was written by Takahashi and Peter Barakan with music by Takahashi. Takahashi and Hosono even help out on backing vocals while Susan's feathery vocals fly over the melody line and through the storm of drums.