Kayo Kyoku Plus
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
Tuesday, April 23, 2024
Tweedees -- KLING! KLANG!/Hello Hello
CHiLi GiRL -- Secret Secret
Near the end of summer last year, I posted up an article regarding the singer-songwriter and shamisen player CHiLi GiRL and her song "Tokai no Mori"(都会の森), a 2022 single combining some of the old and the new via Neo-City Pop and late 80s/early 90s urban contemporary. The song was a part of a Cunimondo Takiguchi series of CD compilations.
Well, I'm happy to say that CHiLi GiRL is still chill and continuing on with her music. In fact, her latest single "Secret Secret" came out only last month. However, instead of it being a blend of City Pop from today and yesteryear, I think the peppy "Secret Secret" has more to do with a version of Shibuya-kei from what I've heard although the music video is very much of the cityscape. According to the "Tokyo's Coolest Sound" website, Reiji Okii(沖井礼二)of the Cymbals and Tweedees has given the song his seal of approval.
As much as I love new forms of City Pop coming aboard, Shibuya-kei in the 2020s is not a bad proposition either.
Monday, April 22, 2024
Kenshi Yonezu -- Sayo--nara Mata Itsuka!(さよーならまたいつか!)
It's been six months since the NHK morning serial drama "Boogie Woogie"(ブギウギ)made its presence known on weekday mornings along with its jazzy theme "Happy Boogie"(ハッピー☆ブギ). It even had the main actress Shuri(趣里)behind the mike as well belting the song out.
But of course, with half a year going by, a new drama has come out this month called "Tora ni Tsubasa"(虎に翼...The Tiger and Her Wings) starring Sairi Ito( 伊藤沙莉)as a young woman in the 1930s punching through every obstacle to become a lawyer in Japan's male-centric society. As with "Boogie Woogie", the main actress also has a role in the opening but instead of singing us into every episode, she does a bit of dancing with some other ladies.
And what they're all dancing to is the irresistible pop theme song, "Sayo--nara Mata Itsuka!" (Good--bye and See You Again!) by singer-songwriter Kenshi Yonezu(米津玄師). The anarchy at the local A&W in the music video aside (our neighbourhood had its own issues in the past but I don't think even the old A&W was ever in that rough a shape), the song has got some nice punch and flow, and I like the addition of the strings. It all ends rather abruptly though but if Yonezu thought it was fine, then it's fine me with me as well.
I also learned that Ito is skilled in dancing so her choreography in the opening credits of "Tora ni Tsubasa" only gives a sliver of what she's probably capable of. Something a little clearer can be seen below. If I'm not mistaken, Ito is in front in the black T-shirt and red hat.
Mari Sono/Hiroshi Wada & Mahina Stars -- Nandemo nai wa(何でもないわ)
I was mentioning yesterday that I had discovered Harumi Miyako's(都はるみ)1982 single "Tokyo Serenade"(東京セレナーデ)while we were watching an enka compilation video on YouTube. Well, that wasn't the only revelation.
I also came across this kayo kyoku for the first time, too. "Nandemo nai wa" (It's Nothing) was the B-side to Mari Sono's(園まり)23rd single from May 1966 "Yasashii Ame"(やさしい雨...A Gentle Rain). Delivered in an appropriately coquettish fashion by the singer, Kazumi Yasui's(安井かずみ) lyrics illustrate a young lady's unspoken words of love to her boyfriend despite the big lug asking what she's keeping close to the chest. Hiroshi Miyagawa(宮川泰)was the composer and arranger for this happy-go-lucky ditty.
Not sure when this cover version of "Nandemo nai wa" was released by Mood Kayo group Hiroshi Wada & Mahina Stars(和田弘とマヒナスターズ)but judging from the similarity of the arrangement, it probably wasn't too long after the Sono original. Actually, this was the first version that my family saw and heard on YouTube yesterday which led me to the original. Speaking of Yasui, it's been a little over thirty years ago that the Yokohama lyricist passed away in March 1994. Just to indicate her length and breadth of experience, Zuzu was also responsible for the words behind Mariya Takeuchi's(竹内まりや)"Fushigi na Peach Pie"(不思議なピーチ・パイ)and Mari Iijima's(飯島真理)"Ai Oboeteimasuka?"(愛・おぼえていますか).
Hachiro Kasuga -- Inochi Tsubunure (いのちつぶ濡れ)
Oh, Hachi, why do you look so awkward? I say that as if I'm any less awkward when having my photo taken.
Horerutte kouiu koto ka yo
I was recently on another trip to Fukushima. I was game on doing some travelling during my now-ended spring break. I knew it had to be Fukushima again, and I knew it wasn't going to be solely for R&R. And so, I travelled back into the mountains of the Aizu region, to the small town of Bange (会津坂下) for the third time in six years to do some data collection at the Kasuga Hachiro Omoide-kan (春日八郎おもいで館) for my thesis.
So this is what is at the end of the rainbow |
Sunday, April 21, 2024
Harumi Miyako -- Tokyo Serenade(東京セレナーデ)
The personal early reviews on Jme thus far have been that there's been a slight dearth of kayo programming with NHK's "Hayauta"(はやウタ)and "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"(新・BS日本のうた)not really showing up on the schedule. I'm perhaps not that surprised about the latter since that show is coming from NHK's satellite service and so may not have been licensed or whatnot for Jme.
However, I have tried to fill in the big gap by occasionally bringing in the YouTube videos involving enka and/or Mood Kayo songs, and there are plenty of those to go around thankfully. One nice thing about this is that I've been able to encounter songs that I had yet to see performed on shows like "Uta Con"(うたコン). Case in point: Harumi Miyako's(都はるみ)"Tokyo Serenade", her 86th single from April 1982.
Yup, I saw this being performed by Miyako this morning on one of those enka compilation videos, and the music by Asei Kobayashi(小林亜星)under Hiroshi Takada's(高田弘)arrangement rather brings in some of that sumptuousness of Tokyo nightlife among the corporate execs back in those high-flying 1980s. There is some of it which seems to refer to Frank Nagai and Kazuko Matsuo's(フランク永井・松尾和子)classic Mood Kayo "Tokyo Nightclub" (東京ナイトクラブ)but again Takada's flair with tying it all together also incorporates some of that urbane pop although I wouldn't classify "Tokyo Serenade" a City Pop tune. But I can say that it can qualify as a New Adult Music number.
Takashi Taka's(たかたかし)lyrics certainly talks up a typical Mood Kayo scenario as a couple gets ready for a night of hubba-hubba, and of course, the genre loves to describe the love affair, illicit or otherwise. "Tokyo Serenade" peaked at No. 39 on Oricon. I have to admit that among all the appearances of Miyako throughout the decades of her long and successful career, I've found her time in front of the camera in those early 1980s as the most attractive. There's just something about her straight shoulder-length hair and her makeup back then.
Mitsuo Sagawa -- Wakare no Toki ga Kita(別れの時が来た)
I only read it on the Yahoo Japan news blotter last night just as I was about to call it a night, but unfortunately singer and actor Mitsuo Sagawa(佐川満男)passed away on April 12th at the age of 84 due to a disease called cholecystitis.
Sagawa's career as a singer began in 1960 with his debut single "Futari no Namikimichi"(二人の並木道...A Boulevard for Us) but perhaps his most defining song came several years later with "Ima wa Shiawase kai"(今は幸せかい)from 1968. Songwriter Taiji Nakamura(中村泰士), who passed away in 2020, had provided words and music for Sagawa's big hit, and he also composed this October 1970 single, "Wakare no Toki ga Kita" (The Time Has Come to Say Goodbye) with Yu Aku(阿久悠)as the lyricist.
Beginning with this near-Bacharach pop melody, "Wakare no Toki ga Kita" then blends into a languid and satisfied soul kayo. I couldn't find the lyrics online but I'm hoping that the song itself is about the ending of a happy date and not a permanent end to a relationship. Of course, with last night's news, the song title will now take on an even more poignant presence. My condolences to Sagawa's family, friends and fans and especially to singer Yukari Ito(伊東ゆかり)who had once been married to him.