Okayu -- Shibuya no Maria（渋谷のマリア）

 

One of my biggest fears with technology is that for whatever reason, the TV or the Internet goes out. It didn't get quite that bad but for a few hours until just 20 minutes ago, TV Japan had the equivalent of the hiccups. Our image was stopping and starting every several frames so it looked like we were getting our version of stop-frame animation. It was annoying as heck, and it went deep into tonight's episode of "Uta Con"（うたコン）. I'd wondered about having to do another reset of the receiver when TV Japan pretty much proved the problems were on their end by suddenly switching to another device broadcasting smooth-flowing television once again but at a slightly lower resolution. I'll take that.

But one happy observation is that it looks like "Uta Con" is almost truly back to its old pre-pandemic self. The audiences have been returning to the two venues in Tokyo and Osaka for a while now but it's been evident for the past couple of shows that all of the guests are appearing en masse with the hosts once again as opposed to the plastic barriers that had been splitting them apart for a couple of years and going further back, when they had to sit in completely separate audience seats in empty halls a couple of folks at a time. I hope that it never goes back to that again, and perhaps the producers can return some of the more ambitious sketches that the guests performed before early 2020.

Singer-songwriting balladeer Okayu（おかゆ）was on the show tonight and she spoke about her younger self whose dream was to be a Shibuya gyaru. She even showed everyone what she looked like back then, and she was just like you see in the above video supplied by egg Channel. Wow! 

Then, she performed her most recent single "Shibuya no Maria" (Maria of Shibuya) which may be somewhat autobiographical, although the singer herself actually hails from Hokkaido. Released last month with words and music by Okayu, she sings about Maria, born and raised and perhaps raising hell in the Youth Mecca of Japan as she sees her friends gradually finding life outside of the neighbourhood while she seems to remain the stalwart resident.

Okayu's music has been interesting because her songs have been categorized as contemporary types of enka, kayo kyoku and pop. Just for the dramatic "Shibuya no Maria", I can hear aspects of rock, Mood Kayo (which includes the lyrical tradition of giving shoutouts to landmarks in the area such as Spain-zaka and Dogenzaka) and simply kayo kyoku. Maybe it can even be called Neo-Kayo. I can also vouch for it possibly being considered to be a modern form of New Adult Music which, according to J-Wiki, lies somewhere between kayo kyoku and enka. 

Regrettably, her performance tonight on "Uta Con" was in the stop-frame animation zone but the audio was still perfectly fine so it got me to write about her. 

hi-posi -- dipole

 

Let's see here...a dipole is an electromagnetic phenomenon while a gluon is an elemental particle. Never had much success with my high school classes involving physics and chemistry. What made me feel even more terrible was that my physics teacher was one of the coolest and wisest educators that I had ever known but even he couldn't help me figure things out. 

Well, anyways, in the world of the band hi-posi, "Gluon" was their June 1998 album and "dipole" happened to be one of the tracks. As has been the case with hi-posi's songs, "dipole" has that avant-pop feeling which doesn't feel like anything familiar at all despite the inclusion of what sounds like ska horns and the omnipresent chugging technopop keyboard (although listening to this YouTube video of their early work montage provides some insights). But what is familiar is Miho Moribayashi's（もりばやしみほ）whispery voice and the whole hi-posi otherworldly esthetic.

hi-posi had been releasing music into the mid-2000s after which Moribayashi under her pen name of Mirey wrote a book called "Girly Fuusui"（ガーリー風水...Girly Feng Shui） in 2007. The book had her giving advice based on her own studies of traditional Chinese feng shui and advanced studies in construction through use of the stylish furniture and home décor provided by the company Francfranc. However in 2016, hi-posi restarted their activities although their website has only provided that year's events. Also, the last time I wrote about the band was back in 2020 with the article for "Ato Nan Nichi?"（あと何日？）.

Nash Music Library -- Haru ni Ohayou（春におはよう）

 

www.goodfreephotos.com

Just to give credit where credit is due, the above picture is of a hiker doing his thing in the Dolomites which is a mountain range in northeastern Italy. I thought it would be nice to have a spring photo up there to begin today's round of KKP articles.

Heck of a time to put this one up on the eve of the Summer Solstice. I am talking about "Haru ni Ohayou" (Good Morning to Spring) which is another cheerful tune from the good folks at Nash Music Library. Technically speaking, we're still in spring and I did want to give the second-last good morning to it so we're still good. It's appropriately bright and hopeful, and though our spring locally this year has had its days of heavy rain and forest fire smoke, the season did bring out those fine sunny days with reasonable temperatures. As of tomorrow, we'll be looking forward to a good summer.

"Haru ni Ohayou" is apparently a part of the Regular Series No. 236 titled "Haru no Fresh Pops"（春のフレッシュポップス...Fresh Pops of Spring） under the registration number NSR-511.

Tatsuro Yamashita/Takahiro Matsumoto feat. Fayray -- Paper Doll

 

Over the past 11+ years on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", we've contributed articles on so many songs that at least in my case, I'm absolutely sure that I've ended up neglecting some major tunes that I had assumed were already covered. And especially with the backlog of tunes that I myself have, lasting for probably months, it's one of those Gibbs Slap-worthy moments when I realize that I haven't written about a special song. Unless this particular song which I first heard in the above BEST compilation has been able to conceal itself from me within Tatsuro Yamashita's（山下達郎）long list, then I'm about to strike the back of my head.

Yep, it's "Paper Doll". When I first heard this on Yamashita's "OPUS" some years ago, the two words that came to mind were "sexy" and "funky". "Paper Doll" was recorded onto Tats' 3rd studio album "GO AHEAD!" from December 1978. It seems to be the story of a rather cynical fellow in a relationship with someone that he actually does have feelings for, but believes that if she tires of him, she can crumple him up into a ball from the paper doll that he sees himself as. Man, talk about a guy in need of encouragement!

From what I've read on the J-Wiki article for "GO AHEAD!", Yamashita had wanted to release "Paper Doll" as a single but alas the powers-that-be at the record company gave him a hard NO, citing that the song wouldn't sell. Maybe it is a tad subdued but I would still politely disagree with that assessment. Besides, it's apparently a popular song at his concerts. The liner notes for the album state that the wah-wah pedal used in "Paper Doll" wasn't a strong suit for Yamashita at the time, so he put it in later.

Tats would probably nod in approval at the cover version recorded within "The Hit Parade" by Takahiro Matsumoto（松本孝弘）, the guitar-playing half of B'z. Released in November 2003 as his 6th album, and as an album of covers of the good stuff in the 1970s and 1980s at that, he has a number of artists helping him out including his B'z partner, Koshi Inaba（稲葉浩志）. For "Paper Doll", Matsumoto invited singer-songwriter Fayray. The sexy funkiness has been retained. "The Hit Parade" hit No. 2 on Oricon and finished 2004 as the 27th-ranked album, going Platinum.

Akiko Wada -- Natsu no Yoru no Samba（夏の夜のサンバ）

 

Happy Monday! One of the defining characteristics for veteran singer/actor/TV personality Akiko Wada（和田アキ子）has been that really short haircut that she's been having for decades. It's so much the case that any record cover or video footage featuring her in any longer hair is automatically from way back in the early 70s and beyond.

Case in point: her 12th single from June 1972, "Natsu no Yoru no Samba" (Summer Night Samba). Seeing her in that hairdo on the cover is absolutely precious. Written by Yu Aku（阿久悠）and composed by Koichi Morita（森田公一）, the same duo behind her previous single and far more recognized song "Ano Kane wo Narasu no wa Anata"（あの鐘を鳴らすのはあなた）, "Natsu no Yoru no Samba" is still a snazzy number although aside from some of the samba effects in the intro and outro and here and there, it's still more of a nocturnal downtown kayo kyoku. 

Hey, summer is just a few days away. I'm sure in Japan, things are already starting to bake and the workers are hitting the rooftop beer gardens. It can't be that comfy in the heat and humidity but the beer must help.🍺🍻

Bin Uehara -- Oya Koi Dochu (親恋道中)

 

Bin-san, otsukaresama deshita

It'd been only a month since I started grad school when I had to do my first proper presentation. It was also my longest one yet at about half an hour long. Solo. The pressure was immense despite the class on Japanese music being tiny (five people, including my prof). The fact that the prof is my academic advisor only intensified things (oh, geez). But, having dear Bin-san gently grinning back at me was comforting. I think we made it through okay. Tired, but kinda okay. 

For some context, class presentations functioned as mini-lectures on anything related to Japanese or East Asian music. So, of course, I had to do an enka-kayo-ryukoka thing. Specifically, I featured the beginnings of what would later become a staple topic in modern-day enka: matatabi-yakuza kayo, or songs that featured the likes of ronin, yakuza, and other wanderers of the Edo era. It seemed to have been popularized in the early to mid-1930s by the lyricist we're pretty familiar with on KKP, Masato Fujita (藤田まさと), who had penned many a matatabi kayo hit. A couple of singers also became synonymous with this theme of song. Interestingly, both were from Akita prefecture, both wore glasses, and both were known for singing in a more "traditional Japanese"-sounding style. Between the two, I naturally picked Bin Uehara (上原敏). I featured four of his matatabi kayo hits as examples, doing so in a way similar to how I'd write my KKP stuff, oddly enough. As you saw above, I "brought" Bin-san along for the ride as well for moral support and, in a way, to have him there in spirit to witness a random foreigner doing a presentation on him in English 79 years down the road. 

Admittedly, part of me wanted to include this song in my project just so that I could show Bin-san live in action.

Anyway, one of my picks was "Oya Koi Dochu" from March 1939. This was Bin-san's final hit before things took a nose dive for Japan and for the poor man himself as another devastating war was to come. Perhaps because of this, little information was recorded on this piece. But we do know that Fujita was in charge of its words and Itsuro Hattori (服部逸郎) its sentimental melody and that it appeared in a musical movie titled "Roppa Uta no Miyako e yuku" (ロッパ歌の都へ行く) from the same year. Starring the titular comedian Roppa Furukawa (古川緑波), the movie included a concert by multiple singers towards its end. It was a clip of this concert where I first got to witness live performances of familiar pre-war music stars in their early days and Bin-san as a non-static portrait. You know the feeling of finally being able to put a face to a voice? It felt sort of like that. The above video is Bin-san's portion of the movie's concert. 

The full version.

From what I understand from Fujita's words, "Oya Koi Dochu" tells of a yakuza-ronin feeling the bite of homesickness on his rootless travels. He is miserable enough to contemplate leaving behind his carefree, itinerant lifestyle and eventually does return home, where his mother tearfully awaits him. Bin-san's mournful vocals only emphasise our protagonist's anguish. Considering the time period this song was released, I can imagine that it would've tugged at the heartstrings of many a soldier and the families waiting for their loved ones to come home safely. On a less sentimental note, the narrative of a frowned-upon yakuza-ronin exiting an unsavoury lifestyle and returning to a life of a responsible, upright citizen who takes care of his mother/parents could have some political undertones... but let's keep the sentimental value of the song for KKP and the cut-and-dry speculations for school.

https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1Q54y1v7rz/?spm_id_from=333.337.search-card.all.click

Here is another video that includes the only other live reel of Bin-san I can find online. It mixes the above clip with what seems to be scenes from another movie in which Bin-san cameoed (?) as himself. Honestly, the star-struck moustachioed fellow in that clip is me.

This was from a few months back
The shelf is not nearly as spacious anymore

A trip Odate, Akita, is in order. I do want to tell Bin-san that he's not forgotten and not to be remembered as just "Shoji Taro No.2" (東海林太郎の第二号... I am not kidding. It was actually one of his nicknames). And that for a short amount of time in the 21st century, his voice rang through the halls of a university. And that he is resting peacefully wherever he may be. I've decided to visit his plaque on his death anniversary. I read that his fans gather there to pay respects on that day, so I'm curious as to how that'll play out.

On a final note, here's the modern-day Bin-san (or Shoji) doppelganger and his brothers doing their rendition of "Oya Koi Dochu". I feel that the simple arrangement with just Yujiro's (雄次郎) accordion and Ryuzaburo's (龍三郎) bass made Kotaro's (孝太郎) delivery almost as forlorn and lonely as the original.

Makoto Iwabuchi -- Yuuhi ni Sarawarete（夕陽にさらわれて）

 

Here's something very nice for a Sunday afternoon. It even has a bit of country near the end as I hear it, but maybe that's because I've always associated Sundays with country music. The music show "Hee Haw" used to be on those days.

Anyways, "Yuuhi ni Sarawarete" (Swept Away by the Setting Sun) by singer-songwriter Makoto Iwabuchi（岩渕まこと）sounds like a good driving song on a road trip in the countryside and/or along the coast. It's got the electric guitar and the piano chugging away at a nice pace, plus I'm always a sucker for a good background chorus. The track comes from his July 1978 album "Air Pocket".

Iwabuchi hails from Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture and has been a gospel singer and YouTuber for many years. He converted to Christianity in 1980 thanks to his friend, the late great Chu Kosaka（小坂忠）and has worked with him and singer-songwriter Saki Kubota (久保田早紀）. Those projects include a number of albums related to religion.