Michiya Mihashi -- Onna Sendou Uta （おんな船頭唄）

As was also the case with Noelle when she wrote her article on Michiya Mihashi's（三橋美智也）festive "Iwate no Osho-san"（岩手の和尚さん）a couple of days ago, I also saw the tribute to the late singer of minyo and enka during last week's "Uta Kon" (うたコン).

Although I don't think this ballad got into the tribute on the NHK show, I think "Onna Sendou Uta" (The Oarswoman) probably has had its day in the sun and will most likely get its due some more times. For one thing, J-Wiki has posted it as Mihashi's first hit after its release in 1955. Mihashi had been singing professionally since 1942 so for him to finally get that first big hit after 13 years or so was not an insignificant achievement.

The blurb on J-Wiki didn't talk about how many records of "Onna Sendou Uta" were sold and it was still years before the Oricon charts began but I can speculate about the keys to the song's success. I think one would be those high-tone vocals of Mihashi after years mastering the minyo genre. That down-to-earth and down-home delivery also tied into that well-worn trope of unrequited love...this time, that love was for the titular woman working a job that automatically brought up those homespun images of life in the old country. With young people flooding into the cities at the time to help crank up the Japanese economy again, listening to those lyrics must have touched a few sentimental nerves.

Ironically, "Onna Sendou Uta" had originally been intended for another up-and-coming singer at King Records, Tsutae Nishimura（西村つた江）. However, the director behind the recording thought that with the high delivery right from the beginning, Mihashi would have been a better choice behind the mike, and so the minyo singer was given his chance. And as they say, a star was born.

The song was written by Tetsuro Fujima（藤間哲郎）and composed by Toshiro Yamaguchi（山口俊郎）. "Onna Sendou Uta" was never sung in any of Mihashi's 14 appearances on the Kohaku Utagassen.

Momoko Kikuchi -- Mystical Composer (ミスティカルコンポーザー)

Momoko Kikuchi（菊池桃子）has turned out to be quite the fascinating aidoru for me. Sure, she came out with the usual cutesy tunes such as "Say Yes!" but at the same time, she also released songs that were surprisingly adult contemporary in nature...right into City Pop or J-AOR.

Case in point: "Mystical Composer" which was a track on Kikuchi's 3rd album, "Adventure" from June 1986. Somehow those whispery/breathy vocals blend in well with Tetsuji Hayashi's（林哲司）mellow music; that melody sounds just tailor-made for anything in the discography of Omega Tribe, another Hayashi client (the fellow was also behind "Say Yes!"). And yet, this was an 80s aidoru taking care of this song and a number of other similar tunes. Marcos and I were talking about the current group Especia as this aidoru crew tackling the genre but I'm starting to think whether Momoko was the ultimate progenitor of marrying City Pop and aidoru.

Junko Sato（佐藤純子）wrote the lyrics about the young lady who has fallen head-over-heels for this wonderful weaver of music while seemingly surrounded by the environment that would make up a cover for a City Pop compilation album: a turning turntable and being on that roof of a sports car with the wind blowing by. Considering the title and lyrics, I kinda wonder how Hayashi must have been feeling.

Although I couldn't find any information on J-Wiki indicating it as so, I also wonder whether the powers-that-be had always wanted to mold the singer into this unique teen idol of adult contemporary music. I mean, the titles for her first 3 albums were "Ocean Side", "Tropic of Capricorn" and "Adventure". Those titles practically scream City Pop, Resort Pop and AOR. It's a wonder that there was no image of a soaring plane (the unofficial symbol of City Pop) not-so-subtly pasted on any of those albums.

When I decided to post up this song, I had also been surmising that someone like Artzie Music would have arranged "Mystical Composer" into a piece of Future Funk. Well, the above remix isn't by him but by someone called FauXFaX.

Akira Terao -- Guuzen （偶然）

https://www.amazon.co.jp/Standard-%E5%AF%BA%E5%B0%BE%E8%81%B0/dp/B00005GLRX

I was writing about Akira Terao's（寺尾聰）old Group Sounds days with The Savage a few nights ago when I came across this video with a song by him.

https://itunes.apple.com/jp/album/standard/id1156277633

(excerpt only)

Titled "Guuzen" (Suddenly), the crooning vocals were unmistakably by Terao but the music itself didn't sound like the City Pop of the early 1980s. Basically his output represented on the blog has been through his remarkable album "Reflections". However, I came across quite a find since the music sounded as if it originated much later in the decade or even going into the 1990s.

And as it turned out, I was spot-on. "Guuzen" was a track on his 4th album (his 3rd for Toshiba EMI) "Standard" which came out in February 1987. The ballad is still very much in the urban contemporary vein, and with Terao also being a long-time actor, I could see him in any music video looking straight out a rainy window of some bar with a very hangdog expression due to the love of his life no longer there for him. There will no longer be any sudden meetings with her as Masako Arikawa's（有川正沙子）lyrics relate. Kenji Takamizu（高水健司）provided the scotch-on-the-rocks-friendly music. Most likely, past midnight, the kindly bartender will call a taxi to pick up the forlorn fellow.

The Delgados -- The Light Before We Land / op. -- Dopo Il Sogno ~ Yume no Ato ni （夢のあとに）

My anime buddy came back from his trip to Japan last weekend so we were able to meet up for our first anime-and-food session for 2017 yesterday.

As he did on a previous trip to the country a few years back when he visited the city of Oarai in tribute to the anime "Girls Und Panzer", my friend did another anime-based pilgrimage...this time to the city of Hirosaki up in Aomori Prefecture due to last year's lovely "Flying Witch" (ふらいんぐうぃっち). Unfortunately I can't relay any of his fine photographs of the place but perhaps this video up above will do.

At the time, there was some a major snowstorm whipping through the area which was broadcast on NHK News and when I mentioned to my family that my friend was up there, one of them basically stated "Is he nuts?!". To be honest, my friend also wondered about his judgement when he first reached the city and saw the snow falling fast and thick, but he was able to do everything that he wanted to achieve including visiting the places depicted in "Flying Witch" and engorging on everything with apples in it and that included curried rice with apple chunks.

Of course, the session included the anison and this time, he pulled out a song that I hadn't heard before although the anime title itself rang a bell: "Gunslinger Girl" which came out in October 2003. My friend actually purchased the Blu-Ray for the first season (the second season was apparently horrible), and he described the story line about these teenage girls undergoing tragic fates only to get the RoboCop treatment and become cybernetic assassins (yes, it is an anime, isn't it?) ultimately facing another tragic fate.

After that description, I said that I wouldn't be too interested in watching the series but I have to say that I was very taken with the opening theme, "The Light Before We Land" by Scottish band The Delgados. I mean, to say that this song is hauntingly beautiful is an understatement. After hearing that intro a few more times, I've basically trained the hairs on the back of my neck to stand up and salute. Plus, listening to the song and watching the introduction of these adolescent killers has put a capital 'P' onto the word pathos.

"The Light Before We Land" would also be just the song to finish off some sort of revisionist Western where pretty much every character gets killed off with the one survivor limping off into the sunset. And there's even a feeling of a 007 theme in there as well. The song, by the way, is a track on The Delgados' 2002 album "HATE".

Well, when you have such atmosphere for the opening theme, I gather that the ending theme has to pack a punch as well. And that would be "Dopo Il Signo ~ Yume no Ato ni" (After A Dream) which is a Toshihiko Sahashi（佐橋俊彦）and Nanae Mimura（三村奈々恵）arrangement of an original work, "Après un rêve" by French composer Gabriel Fauré with lyrics by Keiko Ueno (うえのけいこ). The singer was simply listed as op. (pronounced Opus).

Heck, that ending sounds like something that would be played in some sort of Mafia-based movie during a montage of killings. Perhaps I've been watching "The Godfather" a bit too much.

Forgive me...after hearing these two songs, I think I wanna look out the window at the rain for a few hours.

Michiya Mihashi -- Iwate no Osho-san (岩手の和尚さん)

This article isn't on Hiroshi Tachi, but I thought this snapshot of him from an "Abunai Deka" episode I found on Twitter thoroughly represents how I felt as I watched the "Uta Kon" tribute to the Minyo superstar from Hakodate, Michiya Mihashi (三橋美智也). "Uta Kon" is definitely taking a step in the right direction with their weekly tributes to singers/songwriters from bygone days. Now if they could just do that for the rest of the Yon'nin Shu and the likes of Yujiro Ishihara, that'd be great.

Besides a brief history of him, a good number of Michi's hits were highlighted via the night's guests and the VTR clips. I felt glad that I knew and I liked almost all of what was being mentioned save for one or two. There were my old and perennial favourites like "Hoshikuzu no Machi" (星屑の町) and "Kojou" (古城), and the newly acquired "Ringo no Mura kara" (リンゴ村から) and "Akai Yuhi no Furusato" (赤い夕陽の故郷). However, I was sort of hoping to hear this tune that's both a favourite and relatively new to my Michi playlist, "Iwate no Osho-san". It would definitely have spiced things up, especially since the tribute focused more on his serious and/or melancholic tracks.

With the musical styling by Kenji Yoshidaya (吉田矢健治) , "Iwate no Osho-san" feels like fusion of East and West. The former would be from the screaming trumpets and droning horns that provide an Oriental vibe that befits a song that revolves around a monk; the latter comes from the catchy, upbeat percussions which have a Latin touch. Ryo Yano's (矢野亮) lyrics then has Mihashi singing about what I think are monks from the said prefecture coming down from the frigid mountains to the main village to celebrate some festival. From how Yoshidaya's score changes from quiet to raucous within the first few seconds of the song, the abbots must've been meditating or going about their peaceful lives before they realise it's time head down the mountain to "PARTY HARRDD!!!"... Well, maybe not too hard.

"Iwate no Osho-san" was released in 1958 and was also one of Mihashi's many successes. Looking at the J-Wiki, it wasn't one of his top 18 enka-yo hits, so perhaps that was why it wasn't featured on "Uta Kon" - or at least there wasn't time to include it.

One thing I've realised about the tributes to Michi I've watched (mostly online, until now) is that they don't talk about his disco phase. I thought that there would be minimally some mention of it since that was quite a transition he made in the 70's, but I guess not. I wonder if it wasn't that memorable, or many only want to remember the veteran by his enka and minyo, and disco which may have been seen as an act of folly. Too bad, "Disco Tengoku" (ディスコ天国) on the NHK stage would've been incredible.

(I'm sorry but the video has been taken down.)

Here's Kouhei Fukuda's (福田こうへい) rendition of "Iwate no Osho-san" to round things up. It was from this great "Special Stage" on a "Shin Nippon no Uta" episode where I discovered this song - there were tributes to a whole barrage of showa era enka/ryukoka singers.

Dang, would'ya look at that smile. This album doesn't have
the song, but it's really amusing.

page18.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/w137892292

Serani Poji -- Boku no Mashu （僕のマシュ…）

Just last night, I was talking about how the technopop or New Wave genre in Japan was quite a bit deeper than I had thought all those decades ago through the song "Myun Myun" (ミュンミュン) by Chakra (チャクラ). And of course, all throughout this blog's existence, I've been remarking about how many hidden delights have revealed themselves from City Pop.

Well, now I can add R&B to the list and from an unusual source...a Sega Dreamcast game that was first sold in 2000. Called "Roommania #203", it was some sort of simulation game which involved trying to get some young fellow to do stuff in a room; I was never a big fan of video games so the concept for this game hasn't exactly floored me but I found out about this one song that is in the game that has.

It's called "Boku no Mashu" (My Love, Marshmallow) by a music unit called Serani Poji (セラニポージ) that was brought together for the purposes of the game. Man, it's got that old-style R&B beat that I love and miss and it came out on the group's debut album "manamoon" (まなもぉん) which was released a few months before the game in October 1999. Some of the other songs on the album sound pretty good as well although they are in different genres. The album also acts as the official soundtrack for "Roommania #203".

The more laid-back Gentle Whisper version of the song is also pretty darn easy on the ears. Pretty darn good timing as well since the J-R&B boom during the turn of the century was in full swing. Wish the pendulum would swing back once more. I realize the vocalist here has a whispery and cutesy voice but I can't help but feel if PSY-S had gone more into a soulful direction, this could have been one of their tunes.

Serani Poji consists of three members: Yukichi (ゆきち) from the pop group CECIL, actress/singer Yumi Higashino（東野佑美）, and Tomoko Sasaki（ササキトモコ）who was responsible for the music behind the game. A few more releases by the unit came out before it decided to go into "hibernation" as it described its status in 2004. However, the group woke up once more to release a new album in 2010 titled "Merry Go Round Jailhouse".

And here is a sample of the game as provided in English, although I'm more interested in the soundtrack.

The Savage -- Itsumademo Itsumademo (いつまでもいつまでも)

Almost a month ago, I featured Akira Terao's（寺尾聰）debut album as a solo artist, "Futari no Fuusen ~ Koibito to Issho ni Kiite Kudasai"（二人の風船 ～ 恋人と一緒に聴いて下さい）from 1970 where I also mentioned about his membership in the Group Sounds band, The Savage（ザ・サベージ）.

Well, I managed to track down The Savage's debut single "Itsumademo Itsumademo" from July 1966. Realizing that the word itsumademo can be translated as always or no matter what, I've decided to go with "Never Ever" according to how it's used in the lyric "Itsumademo, itsumademo, hanashitakunai" (いつまでも、いつまでも、離したくない...I never ever want to let you go). From that line, you can guess it is an ardent love song.

Although Terao was a co-vocalist for the band, guitarist Yoshio Okujima（奥島吉雄）was the lead vocal here for "Itsumademo Itsumademo" and I have to say that I really like his deep resonant tones. Considering that The Savage started out in 1963 as an instrumental band, it must have been quite the find that both Okujima and Terao could hold a tune rather nicely.

The president of the talent agency Hori Productions at the time, Takeo Hori（堀威夫）, asked Ben Sasaki（佐々木勉）to compose and write a song for the up-and-coming The Savage since Sasaki himself was seen as an up-and-coming songwriter with his eye on the genre of garage folk. It was Hori's intriguing plan to have a nice folk song start off the Group Sounds phase of The Savage in line with some of the folk ballads sung by Yuzo Kayama（加山雄三）and Mike Maki（マイク眞木）. I'm not quite sure how Okujima, Terao and the rest of the band felt about their boss' plan but as it turned out, "Itsumademo Itsumademo" became a hit and a standard in both the folk and Group Sounds genres. And to be honest, for my ears, its arrangement still strikes me as being quite firmly as a GS ballad. Perhaps, it can still be a song to be played at Japanese wedding receptions.

As for The Savage, the band shifted in its lineup a fair bit but in the beginning it was an electric guitar group fronted by Okujima, Renkichi Hayashi（林廉吉）on guitar, Shuurou Matsuda（松田守朗）on bass and Takashi Kondo（近藤タカシ）on drums although he was eventually replaced by the late Yoshio Oba（大場吉雄）. In 1965, Oba and Matsuda left the band with Terao coming in at bass and Junichi Watanabe（渡辺純一）becoming the 3rd drummer.

Supposedly the name of the band originated from a hit song by the British band The Shadows "Savage" and that was about as close to wild as Okujima and company would get. Even the J-Wiki article pointed out that their appearance on stage was more on the gentlemanly side. Judging from the cover of their first single, I think they would be the guys who would be warmly welcomed by any bobbysoxer's mother with milk and cookies.

As for Ben Sasaki, he was the same fellow behind hits such as the Mood Kayo classic "Wakarete mo Suki na Hito"（別れても好きな人）by Los Indios and Silvia（ロス・インディオス＆シルヴィア）, and "Natsu no Ojosan"（夏のお嬢さん）the 70s aidoru hit for Ikue Sakakibara（榊原郁恵）. Unfortunately, he passed away at the young age of 46 in March 1985.