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.
It was just a few days ago that I put up a romantic rain song by Junko Yagami（八神純子）, one of the finest singer-songwriters I've ever heard, and so it goes today as well. Tonight's rain song is "Hatsukoi no Toori Ame"(Shower for a First Love) by singer-songwriter Ami Ozaki（尾崎亜美）.
Unlike Yagami's debut song of"Ame no Hi no Hitorigoto"（雨の日のひとりごと）, though, Ozaki's 4th single from July 1977 doesn't have that bossa nova beat. It just has that breezy and refreshing pop feeling which starts with a simple Yuming-like piano intro before it goes into that leisurely musical stroll accompanying the two kids walking under a single umbrella...one of the signs of early love in Japan. There is also some of that feeling of a 50s melody intertwined in the song as well. In any case, it's just one of those Ozaki tunes that is good for lifting spirits even on a rainy day.
Here is a live version of the song when Ozaki appeared on a radio program. "Hatsukoi no Toori Ame" comes in at about 3:20.
My old neighbourhood in Ichikawa after a heavy rain.
The other day, I saw a far more weathered Masahiko "Matchy" Kondo（近藤真彦）show up on the NHK morning wide show, "Asaichi" to talk about his career and life after which he performed one of his famous songs, "Orokamono" (Fool). I haven't written a whole lot about Matchy but what I have talked about has been on his early tunes in the early 80s when he was playing the role of the hyper teenage rebel.
"Orokamono" was released on New Year's Day 1987 as Kondo's 23rd single, and although he was still nowhere near middle age at that point, his role in the song seemed to be that of a more worldly, or perhaps more world-weary, fellow giving some tough-guy reassurance to a woman who might be his kid sister or a former flame after going off the rails. In his performances of the song, there was none of that high-energy grinning and dancing that represented his music from the early days. It was just him, the mike and the hard attitude.
I remembering seeing Matchy singing "Orokamono" a number of times on the video rentals of "The Best 10" and the other music shows, and in fact, I managed to purchase a compilation album of Japanese pop music in Chinatown which had the song as well. Written by Ayumi Date ( 伊達歩...which is actually a pen name for author/lyricist Shizuka Ijuin) and composed by Takayuki Inoue（井上堯之）, the song went all the way up to No. 2 on the Oricon charts and became the 35th-ranked song for 1987. As well, it was responsible for him getting onto that year's Kohaku Utagassen for the 7th of 9 times.
Now that Matchy is indeed in middle age, I think the song fits him even more like a glove now.
The song has been covered a number of times by other artists but here is composer Takayuki Inoue himself giving his own version with help from rock singer-composer Ryudo Uzaki（宇崎竜童）. Speaking of Inoue, the man also happens to be the one behind one of the most famous TV theme songs in Japan.
As the blog keeps on going, it is getting more difficult for me to remember songs off the top of my head, especially anything before the 1970s. That's a pity in one way, but in another way, it does spur me on to search for potential gems from the past on YouTube. And without waiting for the next episode of "Kayo Concert", I've been able to find one pretty nice Mood Kayo tonight.
Titled "Kyoto no Yoru" (A Night in Kyoto), this was the 2nd single of Kyoto-born singer, Kenji Aida（愛田健二）. Aside from that previous sentence and a very brief listing of his hit songs from J-Wiki, I couldn't find any other information on Aida, unfortunately. However, "Kyoto on Yoru" was a really big hit for him when it was released in 1967.
Written by Kei Wada（和田圭）and composed by Yasutoshi Nakajima（中島安敏...for both names, I hope that is the right pronunciation）, at first, with that shamisen intro, I thought it would be in the enka vein of kayo, but as soon as that lonely trumpet started blaring out, I realized that this would be a classic Mood Kayo, fine enough to drink to in that nomiya somewhere in the former capital of Japan (provided that you are allowed to enter...I've read a number of those places need a recommendation to get past through the door). And I have to say that the video above provides a fine travelogue of Kyoto. I wouldn't mind visiting the city again someday. Lyrically as well, "Kyoto no Yoru" fits the Mood Kayo tag as the silken-voice Aida sings about that love lost for any number of reasons. Most likely, there were a lot of ochoko of sake drunk that night.
Coming across the Aida original from 1967, I also discovered that The Peanuts（ザ・ピーナッツ） sang a cover of "Kyoto no Yoru". Although the arrangement sounds as if the cover had been done as early as the same year when the original was released, according to one Japanese blogger for the duo, Emi and Yumi Ito（伊藤エミ・ユミ）apparently recorded their version sometime in 1972. One reason I thought that it had come out earlier was that their "Kyoto no Yoru" has that Peanuts sound with the larger number of brass and violins...a sound that I could probably say was "Swingin' Tokyo" much along the lines of how the 60s was the decade for "Swingin' London". Of course, the setting is Kyoto in this case, though.
It would be rather nice to enter a Kyoto izakaya and...carefully...sip a sake while "Kyoto no Yoru" was playing...provided that I'm allowed to enter it.
Dang, I listen to this song by Junko Yagami（八神純子）and I just can't believe that a high school student was able to create and sing this lovely piece of bossa nova. Yagami was only 16 years old when she wrote and composed "Ame no Hi no Hitorigoto" (Rainy Day Monologue) for release in December 1974. Yagami's debut as a singer was supposedly with her 1978 creation "Omoide wa Utsukushi Sugite"（思い出は美しすぎて）, so "Ame no Hi no Hitorigoto" has been seen as a pre-debut of sorts.
At the time, Yagami was attending Aichi Shukutoku High School in her native Nagoya but also started going to the Yamaha Vocal Talent School. In October 1974, she entered the 8th Annual Yamaha Popular Song Contest and won an Excellent Song prize with this particular song. A couple of months later, it was released as a single.
Despite the sunny bossa, the title and lyrics go into Yagami's love for rain. Perhaps compared to her "official" debut of "Omoide wa Utsukushi Sugite", her delivery may not have been as polished but the talent was no doubt there. I was also struck by the last line in the refrain where she says "If you are going to bring in the happiness, please bring it in drop by drop." That Latin sound would be one of her hallmarks for the first few years of her career.
Hope you folks are enjoying the summer! Currently here in Toronto, we're enjoying another long weekend with today being Simcoe Day. I got together with my anime buddy yesterday for the first time in 3 weeks so it was good to get together again. The usual case is that we watch the latest batch of anime, but as part of the lineup on Sunday, my friend also wanted to show me an oldie-but-goodie, "Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer"（うる星やつら2： ビューティフル・ドリーマー）.
I had never seen a full episode of the long-running TV series nor any of the movies before yesterday, but even I knew about the character of Lum, one of the most iconic characters in history. At the annual FanExpo, I've always remarked that it wouldn't be a FanExpo without seeing a Sailor Moon walking around. I can guess that at the San Diego ComiCon, it wouldn't be a ComiCon without catching a Lum traipsing around.
Anyhow, my peripheral knowledge of the show by Rumiko Takahashi（高橋留美子）is that the show had the usual goofy hijinks involving the characters. However, my good friend informed me that the second movie was quite different in terms of tone and plot. And he was quite right. The nutso humour was still there but as the movie proceeded, it started to creep more and more into Christopher Nolan territory which I was surprised about. I read later on that the movie was rather polarizing with a number of Japanese fans complaining about the sudden seriousness (relatively speaking), although it has been regarded favourably by English-speaking fans.
As for me, I was just suddenly thrust into the world of "Urusei Yatsura" so I didn't have all that background of the TV series to color my opinions of "Beautiful Dreamer". But I did pick up on the fact that all of the characters who had reveled in goofiness were now put into a suspense-mystery of sorts. Speaking of the characters, I actually enjoyed the camaraderie among them; they might scream at each other at the drop of a hat but these are still people who will stick with each other to the utmost.
At the end of the movie, the theme song for "Beautiful Dreamer" came on, "Ai wa Boomerang"(Love is a Boomerang) by Yuko Matsutani（松谷祐子）. It didn't have quite the effect on me that another theme for a later "Urusei Yatsura" flick had, but it pressed that nostalgia button when it came to anison of the 1980s which seemed to pay tribute to the soundtrack for "Flashdance". The lyrics were by veteran Yoshiko Miura（三浦徳子）and the music was by Ryo Matsuda（松田良）. It was released in January 1984 about a month before the movie's debut in theatres, and it got as high as No. 34 on the Oricon weeklies.
During the months of July and August, many music shows like "Kayo Concert" and the "Thursday 8 o'clock Concert" (木曜8時のコンサート), which is basically like the former but on TV Tokyo instead of NHK and it's aired on Thursdays, would have episodes revolving around the theme of the hottest season of the year. Songs sung would most likely be jaunty, sometimes festive, and maybe even raucous. Some will have the sea/beach involved as well, just like this Tuesday's installment of "Kayo Concert"; it even had dolphins doing flips and sniggering beluga whales! Also, depending on the program, your favourite singers may appear wearing this... coat thing that looks like a haori in blue or red over their suits/dresses/kimonos and holding fans. Noelle from 11/9/2017: Apparently, what I was describing is called a happi.
So that brings me to today's main point. Since it is dead in the middle of summer (if you're not in the southern hemisphere), I've decided to share a segment from an episode of one such summer-themed music show called "Natsu Matsuri Nippon no Uta" that aired in July 1982. Performing then were the San'nin no Kai (三人の会) that comprised of Hachiro Kasuga (春日八郎), Hideo Murata (村田英雄) and Michiya Mihashi (三橋美智也), and to make things even better, Murata's friendly rival Haruo Minami (三波春夫) was added to the mix. The overall atmosphere of this bit was festive with the audience (and the ladies behind) clapping along to the music and two fellows in the back thumping on the drums.The quartet themselves were decked out in kimonos of slightly varying patterns and had fans in hand as they took turns to sing a hit from their own sizable repertoires.
Hachi got the ball rolling with the lighthearted and whimsical "Otomi-San" (お富さん), which was then followed by Minami's "Chanchiki Okesa" (チャンチキおけさ). In terms of meaning, I don't think it's the most cheerful song since it's about missing home, but the rhythmic, peppy score makes it fit right in with the merry mood. Moving down the line, Muchi was up next to sing "Minna no Shu" (皆の衆), which happens to be my favourite part from this positively aMAzing medley.
Finally, Michi rounded the segment up with the solemn "Tasha de na" (達者でナ). Just like "Chanchiki Okesa", it's not the happiest song in the world, and combining it's quiet music with Mihashi's heartbreaking delivery didn't make it anymore cheerful. But since "Tasha de na" served as the last of the four with the first three being rather loud and rowdy, I think of it as winding down and eventually saying goodbye after a whole day/night of fun with friends and family. Just as a side note, during Mihashi's hip and disco days as "Mitchie" in the late 70's (I think), he seemed to have done a self-cover of the song, calling it "Bye-Bye Horse", which I find pretty funny.
Well, that about does it for this article. Hope y'all enjoy your summer, or at least whatever that remains of it. Oh yeah, just one more thing. Another summer staple that is aired every August is the "Omoide no Melody" (思い出のメロディー), where the general public gets to request for their favourite songs; the most voted songs get to be sung on TV. I missed last year's one because I didn't know it was a thing, but I'm game to catch it this year, which would be broadcast in the coming Saturday, 8th August. I've seen the line-up for the show, and I saw that Hiroshi Itsuki (五木ひろし) is going to have a go at one of my favourite Mood Kayo/kayokyoku of all time, originally sung by Tough Guy, Yujiro Ishihara (石原裕次郎). I really hope he does a good job with it... but you know, no pressure Itsuki.
I couldn't find a picture with all 4,
so here's one with Murata and Minami.
The band so nice that they called themselves So Nice....err, sorry about that. Actually, according to the Japanese music blog, "Magical Mystery 'Music' Tour", Katsuyuki Kamakura（鎌倉克行）and Misako Matsushima（松島美砂子）, who were members of a folk song club at Nihon University created their own band in 1976. The name of the band, by the way, came from the Minako Yoshida-penned lyrics of a Haruomi Hosono tune, "Rum wa O-suki?"（ラムはお好き？...Do You Dig Rum?）
Although So Nice identified as a folk band, they did a lot of covers of Sugar Babe(Tatsuro Yamashita, Taeko Ohnuki, etc.) songs. A few years later, they came out with their debut album, "Love"in 1979 and the one track I've being seeing and hearing on YouTube has been "Kousoku Douro" (Lightspeed Highway). When I first encountered the song, I swore that this was actually Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）singing with Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）on backing vocals. Was there a secret single released years after Sugar Babe broke up, I wondered. As it turned out, it was Kamakura and Matsushima.
Indeed Kamakura sings the lyrics like a Sugar Babe-era Yamashita but there is also that extra layer of City Pop sheen. It's almost as if the Yamashita of two eras combined to sing "Kousoku Douro". And that title...along with the album cover...pretty much screams City Pop. Apparently, only 200 original copies of "Love" were printed out so the LP is one of the rarest of the rare out there.
