Modern Choki Chokies -- Hakata no Hito（博多の女）

 

The first time that I had ever seen or heard of the Modern Choki Chokies（モダンチョキチョキズ）was through the above commercial where vocalist Mari Hamada（濱田マリ）, and she's not to be confused with pop-rock singer Mari Hamada（浜田麻理）, tasted some potato chips called Jungle and did a cute little spin. I later found out that the impish little Hamada belonged to this group called the Modern Choki Chokies which had the size and energy of the epic Kome Kome Club（米米ＣＬＵＢ）but perhaps were even more bohemian in approach.

According to J-Wiki, their initial run spanned between 1989 and 1997, although they've apparently gotten together again in the last couple of years. I'd actually written about them briefly back in 2013 when I found out that their debut single in 1992 was a cover of the theme song for the anime "Obake no Q-Taro"（オバケのＱ太郎）.

When I was writing up about the Saburo Kitajima（北島三郎）kayo "Hakata no Hito" (Woman of Hakata) earlier this afternoon, I discovered that the Modern Choki Chokies had their own "Hakata no Hito" but instead of it being a cover of the 1967 enka/Mood Kayo tune, it was totally the band's own creation with the same title. That title is the only common denominator since ModaChoki (their nickname) came up with a snazzy, jazzy and funky ditty that not only sounds like something out of the K2C playbook but also has that feel of a "Lupin III"（ルパン三世）soundtrack, thanks to the work of Masamichi Ohmachi（大町昌路）and the band's bassist, Hiroshi Uchikado（内門洋）.

The lyrics were created by band member Tomoki Yoshimura（吉村智樹）who's been listed as one of ModaChoki's "brains" on J-Wiki, so take that however you will. His "Hakata no Hito" doesn't refer to an old flame in Fukuoka as is the case in Kitajima's song but it actually refers to a brand of manjuu (饅頭...sweet bean buns) with that name. Apparently, the protagonist had received a box of Hakata no Hito as a souvenir from a friend who went to that area, and frankly found it no different from any other manjuu. It lacks imagination, originality and identity. Well, if he doesn't want the stuff, I'd be happy to take it off his hands.

Hamada is definitely helping out in the vocals but I'm not sure who the male vocalist is since there were at least a couple of guys who are listed as singers in ModaChoki. The main takeaway here is that for a song about a disappointed manjuu eater (even Egypt isn't safe), "Hakata no Hito" really whips up the musical entertainment index and I couldn't help but feel that there is also a Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra element with that funky brass and even something of the old kayo.

"Hakata no Hito" was a track on the Modern Choki Chokies' 2nd album "Bongengan Bangara Bingen no Densetsu"（ボンゲンガンバンガラビンゲンの伝説...The Legend of Bongengan Bangara Bingen） from June 1993.

Hamada has since become a tarento, actress and narrator so she became quite familiar to me on the telly. In fact, her distinctive kittenish voice was often heard through the five-minute program on TV Asahi, "Ashita Mañana"（あしたまにあ〜な）in which she gave a summary on the next day's programming. The title basically brings together the Japanese and Spanish words for "tomorrow" and is a slight pun on the Spanish "hasta mañana". Hamada was the narrator for the show for around 7 years between 1998 and 2005.

Saburo Kitajima -- Hakata no Hito（博多の女）

 

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8700m6

I know that it would have been hoping beyond hope that I could actually find the specific episode for NHK's variety show on names "Nihonjin no O-Namae"（日本人のおなまえ...Japanese Names）, but I put up an episode up here just for reference's sake. Anyways, a few nights ago, I watched that one particular episode in which the folks were talking about why the names of Fukuoka（福岡）and Hakata（博多）were used for the same region. Supposedly around a century ago, there was a fierce battle between sides supporting the two names over which one should win geographically, and it was won by one slim vote for the Fukuoka side for the official maps. However, I guess in a "let bygones be bygones" move, the main railroad station got to be called Hakata Station, and of course, we have that tasty Hakata ramen.

Well, I figure the above would make for a nice enough preamble ramble to introduce another of Saburo Kitajima's（北島三郎）"Hito" series. This time the song of note here is "Hakata no Hito" (Woman of Hakata) and I gather that even pop culture was siding more for Hakata. With the "Hito" series, "Hakodate no Hito"（函館の女...Woman of Hakodate） is arguably the one Sabu-chan song to which all of the other "Hito" songs are compared.

And compared with the jaunty "Hakodate no Hito" from 1965, the July 1967 single "Hakata no Hito" is a much more wistful affair beginning with a lovelorn Harry James-like trumpet and a harp, as Kitajima sings about returning to Fukuoka, not knowing whether a woman he used to know has gotten married or not and probably not wishing to find out or even to see her again. It's slightly bittersweet as the protagonist walks by the famous landmarks of the area. After all, a go-tochi song has to provide plenty of shoutouts to those notable places.

The same folks behind "Hakodate no Hito" were also behind "Hakata no Hito": lyricist Tetsuro Hoshino（星野哲郎）and composer Nobuo Shimazu（島津伸男）. Let's hope that Kitajima didn't just cry into his beer but into his bowl of rich Hakata ramen, although the broth wouldn't need the extra saline.

Yukio Hashi -- Ano Ko to Boku ~ Swim Swim Swim（あの娘と僕-スイム・スイム・スイム-）

 

When I celebrated the first anniversary of "Kayo Kyoku Plus" at the end of January 2013, I chose the kayo "Muhyou"（霧氷）, the haunting 1966 hit by Yukio Hashi（橋幸夫）because it is a song that I had heard since I was literally a toddler but didn't know the title nor the singer at the time. However, thanks to a viewing of the previous NHK incarnation of the regular kayo show "Kayo Concert"（歌謡コンサート）a few weeks earlier that had Hashi appear and perform "Muhyou", I finally found out the truth. The (re-)discovery of that song was an early example of me finding out some of those lost kayo in my head.

Guess what? Another kayo lost in the ancient windmills of my mind has been unearthed once more, and moreover it was yet another NHK kayo show and the same singer involved. Yesterday, I was finishing off a KKP article and then headed back to the living room where the TV was showing an episode of "Songs of Japanese Spirit", and it turns out that there was a tribute to the late composer Tadashi Yoshida（吉田正）. I then heard this song that hadn't actually actively entered my ears in decades but had popped up every so often in my brain.

And the reason that this dusty kayo remained stuck in my head all these years without a singer's name or a title was that it possessed this very dynamic arrangement. Yukio Hashi's "Ano Ko to Boku ~ Swim Swim Swim" (That Girl and I) sounded like some sort of soundtrack from a 1940s Hollywood adventure into Africa, especially with a haunting but relentlessly chanting chorus which included a battery of "Yeah, yeah, yeah"! The rhythm came across as a melodic expression of a tribal custom as filtered through Tinseltown.

"Ano Ko to Boku" was a June 1965 single by Hashi (his 68th) that was composed/arranged by Yoshida with lyrics by Takao Saeki（佐伯孝夫）, and despite that exotic sound, the song is actually all about the whirlwinds of love and hedonism on the beach. It's definitely not enka, the setting and the really active melody don't put it into Mood Kayo either, but that rollicking rhythm seems to throw "Ano Ko to Boku" into some gray zone between Group Sounds and kayo that is perhaps described as Rhythm Kayo which is the genre that the song has been put into according to the J-Wiki article.

This became a huge hit for Hashi, and though Oricon was still a few years away, it was placed at No. 1 in the monthly magazines of "Myojo"（明星）and "Heibon"（平凡）. In addition, having "Ano Ko to Boku" sell over 700,000 records within two months of its release was another nice sign of its success. It also won a Grand Prize at the Japan Record Awards and then even had Hashi appear for his 6th straight time on NHK's Kohaku Utagassen to perform the song with a number of his fellow White team members (including actor Kiyoshi "Tora-san" Atsumi) getting in on the act. To put the final cherry on top, a movie with the same title was released just several weeks after the single's appearance on the record store shelves with Hashi starring.

Glad to cross off another mystery kayo from my mind.

Eikichi Yazawa -- Tomaranai HA~HA (止まらないHA～HA)

 

I generally don't do follow-ups of other contributors' works on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" only because that contributor totally writes it all in his or her articles so there is no need for me to follow up. Noelle Tham provided her article on Eikichi Yazawa's（矢沢永吉）"Tomaranai HA~HA" (Non-Stop HA HA) back in early 2018, and she wrote about it being a real banger (for a night out probably in the more dangerous areas of town) as well as it being a crowd-pleaser at the singer-songwriter's concerts.

Not to say that Noelle didn't put her all into "Tomaranai HA~HA". She certainly did but I was so tickled pink by this very quintessential of Yazawa hits that I also had to put in my two pennies. Yazawa doesn't drink BOSS Coffee here...he IS the BOSS! He struts about as if he owns Kabukicho or Roppongi and has no idea or care about fellow strutters Mick Jagger or James Brown.

In the music video (sorry but it's been taken down), he not only laughs off three younger gang toughs like annoying mosquitoes but putts golf on a tabletop like a BOSS! Meanwhile, he sings Tetsuya Chiaki's (ちあき哲也) lyrics as if he's clearly enjoying a Wagyu steak. Eikichi, who also composed the boss melody, is simply loving hedonism in the big city and has no time for sappy love songs. It's Friday night...let's paint the town red, even if there's a bit of blood mixed in!

As mentioned in Noelle's article, "Tomaranai HA~HA" was included as a track on Yazawa's July 1986 album "Tokyo Night" (東京ナイト) and a number of succeeding albums. 

Apparently, television also knew a good thing when it saw one. Fuji-TV used it as the theme song for a recurring show called "IPPON Grand Prix"（IPPONグランプリ）centering on comedians. I don't think I've ever seen funny guys look so cool in a credit sequence. In addition, "Tomaranai HA~HA" has also been used as the entry tune for many a professional athlete including retired baseball legend Ichiro（イチロー）and boxer Daiki Kaneko（金子大樹）. Can you imagine walking into a stadium with this anthem behind you?

The Birds -- Attention Please（アテンションプリーズ）

 

Although I've cherished visiting my old friends and students in Tokyo in the previous decade, flying isn't one of my favourite activities. I got airsick the very first time I flew on a Canadian Pacific flight to Japan which manifested itself belatedly in a taxi going away from Haneda Airport (late bloomer, I am), and then a particularly lousy flight through a typhoon many years later pretty much put the kibosh on any appreciation of Economy class. For me, flying is for the birds, and you can take that in any way you like.

Still, I gather that in decades past, there was a romance and luxury about flying the great blue skies, and the occupation of flight attendant was a much envied and desired one. That's the impression that I get from The Birds'（ザ・バーズ）singing of the theme song for the 1970 TBS early evening half-hour drama "Attention Please". With that sound of a jetliner taking off, everyone else is taking off for an optimistic and cheerful adventure against the backdrop of a happy kayo melody from that time period with the strings and horns.

Prolific lyricist Tokiko Iwatani（岩谷時子）and composer/arranger Go Misawa（三沢郷）were responsible for the theme song. As for The Birds, although the name sounds like it belongs to a Group Sounds band, it actually represents twin sisters, Junko and Reiko Toyoda（豊田順子・豊田礼子）from Saitama Prefecture who debuted in 1968 and released some singles up to the middle of 1971.

From what I've read of the synopsis for the show, it reminds me of how America's "The Love Boat" did their shows with various famous guest stars coming in each week. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any footage of the original show, but in 2006, there was a reboot of "Attention Please" starring Aya Ueto（上戸彩）under an hour-long format.

Kuniko Fukushima -- Gypsy（ジプシー）

 

I'm finding singer-songwriter Kuniko Fukushima（福島邦子）to be one of those underrated gems that people are hopefully finding out more about. She can trip the light fantastic among City Pop, AOR and rock with a smile and a swagger. I've already written a few articles about the Okayama Prefecture native including the road-trip honky-tonk of "Bye Bye City" and the downtown boogie strut of "Boogie-Woogie"（無偽遊戯）.

Fukushima's 3rd single released in February 1979 was "Gypsy" which is slightly slower than "Boogie-Woogie" but still has that downtown strut. It really feels like that walk through Shinjuku at the turn of the decade, and the addition of the strings at the end of each chorus amps up the epic feel while the bass keeps things nice and cool. Speaking of bass, Tsugutoshi Goto（後藤次利）arranged Fukushima's melody and Machiko Ryu's（竜真知子）lyrics talk about a couple of people who may be on the run from town to town like the titular gypsies.

As I mentioned in "Boogie-Woogie", the singer is quite photogenic with her album covers, and her debut album "I'm Ready" which came out in June that same year is no exception. With that guitar, she definitely looks ready.

Takeo Miyate -- Za Za Za

 

With the summer coming to an end, if I were to analogize with kayo, the music would be far less raucous and celebratory. It would be more on the side of relaxation bordering on light and mellow as dusk hits the shores. One perfect example is Junichi Inagaki's（稲垣潤一）"Natsu no Claxon"（夏のクラクション）.

I found another example with "Za Za Za" by singer-songwriter Takeo Miyate（宮手健雄）who now goes by the name of Temiyan（テミヤン）. Back in October 2019, I wrote about his "Angelina" and his laidback style which would back up his nickname of being "The Folk Singer on the Beach".

Actually, the first time that I heard Miyate was through "Za Za Za" on one of the "Light Mellow" compilation discs. Originally, it was the title track of his debut album in 1984 and it was this version that I heard at 3:52 of the above video supplied by Marty McFlies. Interestingly enough, what begins the video off is the 1982 version that was a part of a compilation titled "Ocean's Paradise". There's not much difference between the two aside from the fact that the later take sounds slightly more beefed up with more keyboards and percussion, and as Marty has pointed out in the explanation, both versions are lovely. The fact that there's not too much daylight between them is probably because Yuji Toriyama（鳥山雄司） was responsible for the arrangement behind both of them. Enjoy sipping a cocktail to either one.